Himachal minister Jagat Singh Negi, Una MLA Satpal Satti engage in heated spat

Shimla, February 22

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The Vidhan Sabha today witnessed acrimonious

exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches during a debate on the Budget proposals for 2024-25 presented by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

The House witnessed noisy scenes as Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi and Una MLA Satpal Satti engaged in heated arguments. “It appears that we, too, will have to sit on dharna at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to demand our legitimate rights from the Central Government, which is discriminating against all Congress ruled states,” the minister said.

Negi lamented that earlier institutions like the Planning Commission and the Finance Commission used to act as a link between the Centre and states but unfortunately, the BJP had snapped this channel. “Himachal is facing the brunt of this new culture started by the BJP,” he added.

Satti mocked the Congress for casting aspersions on the poll outcome based on electronic voting machines (EVM). “It is high time that the Congress comes out of this narrow thinking. It has no objection to the EVMs when it wins elections but whereever it loses it blames the defeat on these machines,” he said.

Satti urged the government to adopt a sympathetic view of providing jobs to people on compassionate grounds. He said that the Congress would get to know the ground reality after the Lok Sabha poll. “You managed to form government in Himachal by misleading employees on the issue of restoration of the old pension scheme but these very employees will ensure your rout on all four Lok Sabha seats,” he alleged.

Naina Devi MLA Randhir Sharma accused the government of being anti-youth as appointment letters to selected candidates in various departments, including 140 Ayurveda doctors, were not being issued. “You will have to cut wasteful expenditure and generate revenue to make Himachal self-reliant like former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar, who irrespective of the consequences, took harsh decisions, which you cannot take,” he said.

Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sunder Thakur, Independent MLA Hoshiyar Singh, Nagrota Bagwan MLA RS Bali and Kangra MLA Pawan Kajal also participated in the debate.