Corruption debate in HP Assembly: BJP stages walkout, rejects CM’s reply
Dharamshala: The Opposition BJP in Himachal Pradesh staged a walkout following a two-day-long debate in the state Assembly where corruption charges against the Congress government were fiercely discussed.
The BJP criticised Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s reply, calling it inadequate in addressing the concerns raised. The move reflects growing tensions between the ruling Congress and the opposition, especially over allegations of corruption and favouritism in Himachal Pradesh.
The House, earlier in the day, witnessed a heated debate on corruption as the BJP leaders targeted the Chief Minister for “failing to take action in the cases of corruption”, and ignoring the “instances of corruption in tenders, auction of excise units and some hydro-power companies”.
However, when the Chief Minister started responding to the allegations, the Opposition MLAs tried to interrupt him and sought the Speaker’s intervention to counter the Chief Minister. When Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania declined, they resorted to sloganeering and decided to leave the House alleging that instead of ordering action on corruption cases, the Chief Minister had tried to justify his decisions and chosen to remind the BJP about certain decisions taken during its time.
Sukhu said the so-called letter bomb wherein corruption allegations were levelled in fact was the handiwork of a BJP MLA, who later apologised to him for uploading the “bogus” letter on social media.
The investigations into the letter bomb and also a forensic report have fully pinpointed that there was nothing substantial in the allegations and the letter itself was fake.
Sukhu asserted that he will not let the public exchequer be drained .“ I have rather tried to stop the loot and misuse of the public resources and those indulging in corruption and loot of the Himachal Pradesh resource will be put behind the bars. They will not be called to the room but sent to jail” he added. The Chief Minister said there was an internal rift dominating the politics within the BJP. Some people, who had defected to the BJP from the Congress, are making a determined bid to merge stronger and sideline former Chief Minister Jairam Thakur.
