The last day of the monsoon session of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly witnessed tension between the ruling party and the Opposition.

While Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur mentioned the issues raised by BJP MLAs during the session, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, from the ruling Congress, took a political jibe at the Opposition.

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Despite this, Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania tried to assuage the tensions by acknowledging that Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur cooperated well for the smooth functioning of the House, due to which the proceedings of the House were conducted in a cordial atmosphere.

Jai Ram Thakur demanded the closure of the case registered against MLA Vinod Kumar and said that if this does not happen, it will become a tradition in future as well and cases will continue to be registered against MLAs.

He also said that BJP demonstrated outside the Assembly on Monday regarding the burning issues of the state and is hopeful that the state government will give a consideration to these issues.

He also expressed surprise over the white paper brought by the government in the House on the fiscal health of the state and said that many issues were included in it which are only under the control of the Central Government.

He also said that answers to many questions during the session were not satisfactory which needs to be looked into in future.

Jai Ram Thakur said that the Vayastha Parivartan (change in the system) happens not through words but behaviour and action.

He said that the government has been in power for the last ten months and still is not in a comfortable position because there is resentment among the people against the state government.

Jai Ram Thakur urged the government to reconsider the issue of outsourced workers who have been removed from the health department.

Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri in his speech on the concluding session, took a dig at the Leader of the Opposition by saying that it has been the tradition of the House that all part ways after the session, with a cheerful note, however, Jai Ram Thakur gave a serious speech which seems to indicate that he is not happy this time.

Reminding the House that the previous BJP government had lodged an FIR against 6 Congress MLAs within the Assembly, he said, “ This had happened for the first time because FIR cannot be filed against any MLA inside the assembly premises. The FIR has still not been cancelled till date. Hence, the BJP, especially Jai Ram Thakur, should not forget that the precedent like FIR against MLAs is their contribution.

He further said, “The previous BJP government did not present its case properly before the 15th Finance Commission due to which the state suffered a loss in the assistance it received from the Centre.”

The Central Government has also reduced the loan limit of Himachal and has also stopped the compensation under GST, due to which the financial condition of the state has further deteriorated, said Agnihotri.

He also expressed surprise at the opposition for remaining silent when the resolution was passed to declare the disaster due to rain fury in the state a national disaster.

“The BJP can now rectify its wrong by helping the state government in seeking Rs 12 thousand crore assistance from the Central Government through this resolution,” said the Deputy CM.