Himachal Pradesh Assembly: Opposition Walks Out Over CM’s Response To Governor’s Address

Shimla, March 14: The budget session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly was marked by a dramatic disruption on the fourth consecutive day of the session as members of the opposition walked out of the Assembly after being dissatisfied with the replies to the Governor’s address by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

Jairam Thakur, the Leader of Opposition, spearheaded the assault on the Chief Minister’s address, accusing him of mismanaging the state’s affairs. Thakur particularly noted Sukhu’s effort to run the government as if it were student politics, especially during his first reply in the Assembly. He added, “He (Sukhu) should stop with false charges, instead of talking about the core issues with facts.”

One of the major points of contention was the Himcare scheme, with Sukhu having previously alleged corruption connected to it. Thakur outrightly denied these allegations, stating that the Himcare scheme was based on the Central Government’s Ayushman Bharat program. Thakur said Himachal Pradesh’s government hospitals were already overwhelmed and unable to cater to the full load of patients, so private hospitals were brought into the scheme. He described the corruption allegations against the scheme as a “ distorted mentality” and a clear misrepresentation of the facts.

Thakur also targeted the state’s bureaucracy, saying many officers were “scurrying to prolong their stay or competing for posts in an unhealthy manner. He accused the government of releasing fabricated statistics and converting transfers into a “business,” and which weakened drain the integrity of the state’ administrative system.

Thakur also expressed outrage at an incident involving a woman from Bilaspur who had voiced reservations about the state’s health system. He alleged that there was excess pressure on her to resile her statements, calling the development “highly condemnable.”

As always, the Speaker, Kuldeep Singh Pathania, tried to bring order, but the Chair was not being listened to and the assembly was even disrupted more with the members chanting slogans of protests and walking out. The Chief Minister’s response, Thakur added, was “factless” and so the opposition “is not bound to listen” to what it finds misleading answers.

The walkout continued the level of aggravation between the ruling party and the opposition and suggested that the ongoing budget session could see more turbulence as discussions move forward.