Himachal Vidhan Sabha winter session starts today, likely to be stormy

Tribune News Service

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, December 18

The five-day winter session of the Vidhan Sabha beginning at Tapovan in Dharamsala tomorrow is likely to be stormy with both Congress and BJP gunning for each other over contentious issues like raising loans and the Central Government allegedly not extending a special financial package to Himachal in the wake of devastation caused by the natural disater.

BJP to take on govt on poll guarantees

• The BJP seems to be poised to aggressively take on the Congress government over raising of loans and its failure to create employment and fulfil 10 election promises
• The Congress is also all set to counter the BJP’s onslaught by accusing the Central Government of discriminating against Himachal in providing a special financial package for relief and rehabilitation work in the wake of devastation caused by the disaster
• The Congress is likely to hit back at the BJP for leaving a huge debt burden of Rs 76,000 crore, besides Rs 10,000 crore of arrears of government employees and pensioners

The Congress Legislature Party and the BJP Legislature Party held meetings at Dharamsala today to chalk out their strategies for the session. The BJP seems poised to aggressively take on the government over raising of loans and its failure to create employment. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, his Cabinet colleagues and Congress MLAs are all set to counter the BJP’s onslaught by accusing the Central Government of discriminating against Himachal in providing a special financial package for relief and rehabilitation work in the wake of the devastation caused by the rain disaster.

The BJP is geared up to take on the government over issues like raising of loans and development coming to a standstill. “The state government has failed to fulfil the 10 guarantees the Congress had given to people before the 2022 Assembly elections, including employment generation, providing Rs 1,500 monthly assistance to women and 300 units of free power. Despite raising huge loans, development in the state has come to a standstill,” said Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur.

The issues of unemployment, uncertainty over the fate of outsourced employees, paper leak scam, delay in the completion of the Central university campus and discrimination in the disbursement of relief are also likely to echo in the House.

The state government has been accusing state BJP leaders and their Lok Sabha MPs of not seeking special financial assistance from the Central Government for the rebuilding of badly damaged infrastructure, including roads and bridges. “The Central Government has not given anything over and above what was due to Himachal. Instead our government has tried to provide succor to the disaster-affected families from our own resources and Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has announced a special relief package of Rs 4,500 crore,” said Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri.

The Congress is also likely to hit back at the BJP for leaving a huge debt burden of Rs 76,000 crore, besides Rs 10,000 crore of pending arrears payable to government staff and pensioners.

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