Winter session to be fiery as oppn bent on cornering govt

Dharamshala: The four-day winter session of the Himachal Pradesh assembly, starting here from Dec 18, is expected to be a stormy affair as the opposition BJP is looking to corner the Congress govt on a number of issues, including promised guarantees, unemployment, taxes, etc. The opposition has also threatened to “gherao” the Vidhan Sabha building.
The BJP MLAs, led by leader of opposition Jai Ram Thakur, are likely to hit the Congress govt where it can hurt the most – the financial situation of the state.
Thakur has already been accusing the CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led state govt of “mismanagement” that has led to financial crisis in the state. He has said the BJP would question the state govt on “wasteful expenditure and failure to curb unemployment”.
The BJP will also try to corner the state govt on the issue of delayed salaries and pension to the employees, removal of outsourced employees from various departments, ending power subsidy, imposition of newer taxes and increase in bus fare.
The BJP legislators are also likely to make “failed guarantees of Congress” an issue during the session, especially its announcement to disburse Rs 1,500 to each woman above 18 years of age in the state and 1 lakh jobs to the youth every year.
Inside the House, the BJP is also expected to target the state govt over its guest teacher policy under which such teachers would be paid on an hourly basis. The policy has already triggered massive protests from guest teachers, who are demanding cancellation of the policy.
Even employees of the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Board are up in arms against the state govt over various issues, including its recent decision to lay off 81 outsourced employees.
Outside the assembly, the BJP has planned a protest on Dec 18, the first day of the winter session. The decision to gherao the assembly on the first day of the session was taken last week during a meeting of the BJP legislature party in Shimla.