The Opposition BJP, upset with Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s reply on the issue of the de-notifying institutions in the state, staged a walkout from the Assembly on second consecutive day.

Before the walkout, there was a huge uproar in the House on Wednesday, during the stop-work motion brought by the Opposition in the Assembly.

Earlier, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, taking part in the discussion, said that the 10 guarantees given by Congress in the assembly elections are no longer in its control. He said there was a state of chaos all over the state and the situation which is of any government after 4 years, has become that of the incumbent state government, just after three months.

Addressing the chief minister, Jai Ram Thakur said that the closure of the institutions will cost him dearly. All the decisions taken after December 11, 2022 will be reviewed in the coming times and if Congress wants to avoid this situation, the government should immediately announce the opening of closed institutions.

He accused the Congress government of making a bad start and that those who are guiding the chief minister are misguiding, not guiding him. He dared the Congress MLAs to give in writing that they do not need the institutions which have been closed and prove that they have the courage to do so.

As soon as the assembly started, BJP MLA Sukhram Chaudhary raised the issue under Rule-67, regarding the closure of 632 institutions immediately soon after the state government assumed power.

The former chief minister demanded a discussion through an adjournment motion on this issue. Opposing this demand from the Opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshvardhan Chauhan said that the BJP has been raising this issue for the last three months. In such a situation, it is not right to raise this issue in the Assembly, he said, adding that the previous BJP government opened these institutions at the election time to take political advantage.

Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania said that the matter is pending in the high court. Hence, it cannot be discussed. Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu intervened and urged the speaker for discussion as the government is ready to discuss on the issue.

After this, the Speaker allowed the discussion under Rule-67, postponing all the subjects included in the agenda of the House for today. Consequent to it, starting the discussion, BJP MLA Sukhram Chaudhary said that there was anger among the general public due to the closure of 632 institutions by the Congress government.

He said the previous BJP government could not open institutions for two years due to the Covid pandemic and that their government had also made functional institutions opened during the Congress previous tenure.

Participating in the discussion, Congress MLA Rajesh Dharmani said that this topic could have been discussed under Rule-130 as well. Despite this, the chief minister and the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly have given permission to discuss this subject under Rule-67.

Participating in the discussion, Congress MLA Inder Dutt Lakhanpal sought to know what the state got despite the repeated visits of the Prime Minister. He said that the previous BJP government failed to get any package for Himachal from the Prime Minister.