Irked by remarks, Cong walks out
Tribune News Service
SHIMLA, July 6 — The Opposition Congress today staged a walkout in the Vidhan Sabha in protest against certain remarks made by Dr Rajan Sushant during the general discussion on Budget.
Trouble arose when Dr Sushant, while participating in the discussion, criticised the Leader of the Congress group for terming the nuclear tests conducted by the Vajpayee government as unnecessary. He also quoted a couplet to which Mr Virbhadra Singh, Leader of the Opposition, objected. He said the remarks were directed at him and urged the Chair to expunge these from the proceedings.
Other party members also rose in his support. The Speaker, however, said that he would give his ruling after going through the record tomorrow.
Not satisfied by the ruling of the Speaker, the entire Congress group led by Mr Virbhadra Singh walked out of the House.
Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, condemned the action of the Opposition and said there was no occasion for a walkout. Dr Sushant had not said anything against any individual for the Congress members to take umbrage.
Later, the Congress members stormed the chamber of the Speaker, Mr Gulab Singh, and repeated their demand for expunging all the derogatory and unparliamentary remarks from the proceedings.
Talking to newsmen, Mr Virbhadra Singh said that Dr Sushant had virtually hurled abuses and the Congress would not allow the ruling group to browbeat the Opposition in this fashion. He said the Speaker had assured that the derogatory remarks would be expunged. He said if he did not do so, the Congress would stall the proceedings of the House on Wednesday. He said the party members would not hesitate to enter the well of the House to disrupt proceedings.
Mr Gulab Singh said the remarks would be expunged if they were aimed against any particular member.
Dr Sushant criticised Mr Virbhadra Singh for not supporting the government on a vital issue like nuclear tests which concerned security of the country.
He also lambasted the Congress leader for selectively quoting figures regarding the economic growth rate. He said the fact was that the growth rate declined during his rule. In 1994-95, it was 7 per cent and came down to 6 per cent in 1995-96 and to 4.5 per cent in the following year.
Similarly, the per capita income also declined and the state slipped from the 5th to the 15th place in the country. The BJP-HVC government inherited empty coffers, huge debt liability, bad roads and strained Centre-state relations.
Earlier, initiating the discussions, Mr Virbhadra Singh charged the government with distorting facts and indulging in jugglery of figures to belittle the performance of the previous Congress government.
He said there were not only discrepancies regarding the actual Budget deficit which needed a clarification, but also much confusion had been created over the economic growth rate by wrongly comparing quick estimates for one year with revised estimate and final rate for other years. He said the growth rate which came down to minus (-2.1 per cent) in 1991-92 rose to 7 per cent in 1994-95, which spoke for the performance of his government.
He blamed the faulty recommendation of the Ninth Financial Commission for the perennial financial crisis plaguing the state. He said the commission overassessed the revenue and underassessed the expenditure which led to a deficit of Rs 416 crore during the 1990-95 period.
The Tenth Commission provided some relief, but it also ignored the additional liability on account of revision of pay scales.
He said the coalition government would also be facing the same problem. And in case it failed to secure the requisite funds from the Centre, it would have a limited option. It could either follow his policy of raising resources through market borrowings or bring the developmental activities to halt as Mr Shanta Kumar did during the 1990-92 period when the BJP was in power.
He said the claim that the Plan size had been increased by 42 per cent was not true because the actual Plan spending during 1997-98 was Rs 1220 crore and for this year, Rs 1425 crore had been earmarked.
However, Mr Dhumal intervened and said comparing the proposed size with actual spending of last year was not correct.
Mr Virbhadra Singh lambasted the government for ordering large-scale transfers and humiliating senior bureaucrats. Mr Des Raj (BJP) also spoke.