HP Assembly’s monsoon session starts Aug 27

Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh state Assembly’s monsoon session will begin in Shimla on August 27. This session, convened after the Parliamentary elections and state Assembly bypolls, will consist of 10 sittings.

The session is significant for the Congress party, which has increased its numbers to 40 MLAs in the 68-member House. This boost follows the disqualification of six rebel Congress members and the defection of three independents, who were previously supporting Congress, to the BJP along with six other Congress rebels.

Among these, four rebels returned to the House on Congress tickets, while only one independent managed to secure a seat after the bypolls held on June 1 and later this month.

Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, who nearly survived a bid by rebels backed by the BJP to topple his government, has strengthened his position and faces no internal challenges from within the party. Despite winning four Lok Sabha seats, the BJP experienced embarrassment as its “Operation Lotus” to overthrow the government failed. The party, which had inducted the six rebels and three independents, faced setbacks as, apart from two rebels and one independent, the rest lost their elections, drawing criticism from party cadres for neglecting their own members.

The session is expected to be contentious. The decision to convene the session was made during a state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu.

The Cabinet also decided to create a new police district, Dehra, with its headquarters located there, and to establish and fill 39 positions of various categories. This decision addresses a promise made to the people of Dehra, where the Chief Minister’s wife, a homemaker, contested and won the seat against a former independent MLA (later BJP candidate) by a significant margin. The Congress has won this seat after more than two decades.

Additionally, the Cabinet approved upgrading police posts Dadasiba and Majheen to police stations under SDPO Dehra and SDPO

Jwalamukhi, respectively.