Himachal Assembly session begins on stormy note, BJP stages walkout over law and order

The two-week Monsoon session of Himachal Pradesh Assembly started on a stormy note on Tuesday with the opposition BJP staging a walkout after rejection of its adjournment motion on alleged deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

Soon after the obituary references to former MLAs -- Tek Chand Dogra, Narayan Singh Swami and Daulat Chowdhary, Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur urged Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania to allow the adjournment motion to discuss the "deteriorating" law and order situation.

Rejecting the adjournment motion, Pathania said the matter can be raised under Rule 130 (motion to consider policy, situation, statement, report or any other matter), following which the BJP members staged a walkout.

Thakur said 15 people with sticks beat up three people in Baddi killing one of them, a young woman was attacked and injured in Palampur, son of former Congress MLA was involved in shootout in Bilaspur and 'mafia raj' prevailed in Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh area but the government is not discussing the issue.

Two gangs had clashed in the Baddi area leading to the death of one person recently while a 21-year-old woman was attacked with a sharp-edged weapon by a man near the Palampur bus stand in Kangra district on April 20.

Police investigations in the Bilapsur shooting case in which bullets were fired on a youth in broad daylight outside the district court on June 20 had revealed that Puranjan Thakur, the elder son of former Congress MLA Bambar Thakur, allegedly hired the shooter from Punjab.

In the House, Randhir Sharma of BJP alleged that for the first time a shooter was hired from Punjab by son of a former Congress MLA, while girls have been molested in school. Sharma also alleged that crime has increased three times and still the government is not serious about it.

Intervening in the matter, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that only urgent issues are discussed under Rule 67 (adjournment motion) but the Opposition is demanding discussion on a gang war between a gang from Haryana and another involved in drug business.

"Presently, natural disaster is an urgent issue and if discussion was sought on loss and damage due to heavy rains, we would have agreed to it," Sukhu said.

He said that the former MLA's son was sent behind bars within hours and strong action is being taken against law breakers.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan said that law and order was an important issue but not attracting adjournment motion and can be discussed under Rule 130. The BJP wants to make news and has brought the motion for staging a walkout, he added.

"We also want discussion on law and order as Mahila Congress was staging demonstration against a BJP MLA and remarks of BJP MP from Mandi, Kangana Ranaut, against farmers can create law and order situation," he added.

Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri also ridiculed the BJP for bringing an adjournment motion on a gang war and said that what could be a bigger bankruptcy of the political party, adding that law and order deteriorated when an officer was shot at Kasauli during the BJP regime.

The Congress had won 40 seats in assembly elections in 2022 and its strength has again reached to 40 after by-elections, which is causing "stomach ache" to BJP, he quipped.