Budget Session Of Himachal Assembly Likely To See Sparks Fly

The 24-day Budget session of the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha that begins on Tuesday is likely to witness stormy debates with the opposition BJP deciding to adopt an aggressive posture to pin down the government, a party leader said.

The Congress government’s decision to shut down and denotify offices and institutions set up by the previous BJP regime is a major talking point, he said. The Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government denotified several institutions set up or upgraded under the BJP rule, saying the previous regime had failed to make any budgetary allocation or appoint staff for them.

The BJP launched a signature campaign and held ‘Akrosh Rallies’ across the state against the move, the party leader said. The BJP last week also announced plans to hand over the signatures collected as part of the campaign to the governor on Monday.

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The state’s debt liability and the reduction in the number of free schools uniform beneficiaries are some of the other issues expected to spark debates. The BJP is also expected to go on the offensive on the appointments of advisers, chief parliamentary secretaries, chairpersons of boards and corporations, an increase of VAT on diesel, and dissolution of the Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission, the leader said.

It is also likely to take the Congress regime to task for its “failure” to implement its 10-point pre-poll guarantees. The government, on its part, will introduce a white paper on the state’s financial condition. Sukhu has been vocal about the Rs 75,000-crore debt his government has inherited from the previous BJP regime since taking charge.