434 questions received as winter session begins today

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 8

The winter session of the Assembly will begin here tomorrow.

Rajeev Bindal, Speaker, addressing a press conference here today, said the session would begin at 2 pm and six sittings take place till December 14.

“Legislators have asked various questions related to issues like health and family welfare and roads. The questions have also been asked on the investors’ meet held at Dharamsala. As many as 434 questions, starred and unstarred, have been received,” Bindal said.

He also issued an appeal to legislators to let the House function smoothly so that the issues related to general public could be taken up.

The BJP and Congress held meetings on Sunday evening to discuss the strategies for the upcoming session. Congress leaders said the Chief Minister had said in Mandi that there was no opposition in the state. He would realise that he was wrong.

The Assembly has 68 MLAs. The BJP has 44, Congress 21, CPM one and Independents two. Holding of the winter session is associated with the regional identity of the lower or merged areas of Himachal.

The first session of the Vidhan Sabha was held in Dharamsala by the Congress government led by Virbhadra Singh in 2006. The first session was conducted in Prayas Bhavan.

Virbhadra Singh was accused by the BJP and some own party leaders of being biased against the lower areas. Virbhadra, by bringing up a new Assembly complex in Dharamsala, gave a quasi second capital status to it. The new complex was completed in 2007.

Thereafter many leaders have been questioning the holding of the winter session here. However, since the issue was linked to sentiments of the lower areas, no government has dared to do away with holding of the winter session here. In fact, some leaders of the lower areas have suggested that more sessions should be held at Dharamsala to make optimum use of the infrastructure created here.