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Aug 11, 2022

Himachal Pradesh: BJP Govt Comfortably Defeats No-Confidence Motion

The opposition moved a no-confidence motion against the Jairam Thakur government over law and order, unemployment, price rise, among other issues in the state.
Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jairam Thakur speaking in the state assembly on Thursday, August 11. Photo: Twitter.

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Himachal Pradesh comfortably sailed through the no-confidence motion moved against it by the Congress and the CPI(M) over over law and order, unemployment, price rise, among other issues in the state.

The Jai Ram Thakur government defeated the motion by a voice vote in the state Assembly on Thursday, August 11. While the ruling BJP has 43 MLAs in the 68-member House, Congress has 22 legislators, CPI (M) one, and Independents account for two seats.

The House witnessed a stormy debate as the opposition members targeted the BJP government over its “failures”. The ruling party rejected the charges claiming the opposition had failed to come up with any concrete issue.

The opposition parties moved the motion, just four months before the state is going to the Assembly polls. The state is set to go for polls in December along with Gujarat.

Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri; Congress MLAs Jagat Singh Negi, Ram Lal Thakur, Harshwardhan Chauhan, Sukhvinder Sukhu; and lone CPI-M legislator Rakesh Singha spoke in support of the motion.

Chief minister Thakur, his cabinet colleagues Rakesh Pathania, Bikram Singh Thakur, Sukh Ram Chaudhary, and BJP MLA Rajeev Bindal spoke in support for the government.

Starting the debate, Mukesh Agnihotri said the law and order situation in the state had deteriorated under the BJP government. He said 354 murders, 1,574 rapes and 7,406 sexual harassment cases had so far been reported in the state under the Thakur-led government.

He said an assistant town and country planner, Shail Bala, was shot dead in broad daylight while a Supreme Court-mandated drive to demolish illegal structures in 13 hotels of Solan district was being carried out in 2018.

Also read: In Poll-Bound Himachal, Disgruntled Apple Growers May Be a Stumbling Block for BJP

Agnihotri said the probe into a paper leak during the recruitment of constables was not handed over to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) despite the CM’s announcement.

Congress legislator Jagat Singh Negi said the CM had gained the reputation of a “helicopter waale mukhyamantri” and “hoardings waale Mukhyamantri” for excessive use of choppers and hoardings by him.

Congress MLA Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said it should be made public why the state government removed chief secretary Anil Kumar Khachi from his post. He said the police officials involved in the constables’ recruitment paper leak were being shielded by the BJP government.

The lone CPI-M MLA, Rakesh Singha, said he knew that the motion will be defeated but he signed the notice for it to raise issues like the old-pension scheme (OPS).

Replying to the debate, chief minister Thakur said he had already raised the pension issue with the Union government. “Let us see what happens,” he said urging the opposition not to politicise it. Thakur said the Congress should not “mislead” state employees on the issue as it was their government that started the new pension scheme.

“The reality is that it is very difficult for the Congress-ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh to implement the old pension scheme without getting help from the Centre,” he added.

On the paper leak, Thakur said the state government decided to hand over the probe to the CBI but it could not pressure agency to take over it.

He also appreciated the probe done by the special investigation team (SIT) of the state police in the case and said the process for the recruitment of the constables almost completed after the written test had been reconducted.

On changing the chief secretary, Thakur said it was the “government’s prerogative”. “If any chief secretary is removed, he is suitably adjusted,” he said, adding that chief secretaries were also appointed surpassing others during the successive Congress governments.

Commenting on the opposition’s walkout, Thakur said the Congress failed to show seriousness while participating in the debate.

The Congress MLAs had started raising slogans over the time given for the debate as the CM rose from his seat to reply to the debate.

The Congress legislators started raising slogans “yeh sarkar luteri hai“, “Ali Baba chalis chor“, with the ruling BJP MLAs countering them with “chor machaye shor” slogan.

At this, the speaker said the time for debate was allocated after discussion with the leader of opposition and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Bhardwaj.

When the speaker asked the CM to start his reply, the opposition walked out of the House.

Parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Bhardwaj said the opposition violated an Assembly rule by walking out from the House during the CM’s reply despite.

BJP legislator Rajeev Bindal alleged that the Congress was befooling people by promising to provide Rs 1,500 to each woman aged from 18 to 60 if it voted to power.

He questioned from where would the money come as the state would be requiring Rs 450 crore per month.

The notice for the motion was given by 22 Congress MLAs and the lone CPI-M legislator in the assembly on Wednesday.

The BJP has 43 MLAs in the 68-member House, while the Congress has 22. There are two Independents and one CPI(M) MLA. The two Independent MLAs – Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra) and Prakash Rana (Joginder Nagar) – had joined the BJP in June but in the Assembly records, they are still independent MLAs.

(With PTI inputs)

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