DHARAMSHALA: For the second consecutive day of the winter session, Congress created ruckus inside the state assembly on Tuesday, making an otherwise calm and composed chief minister Jai Ram Thakur attack the opposition aggressively.
If the opposition was not happy with the clubbing of adjournment notice under Rule 67 into discussion under Rule 130, the chief minister was unhappy with their behaviour and said they (opposition) should maintain the decorum of the House.
Thakur said violation of rules by members should be taken seriously and the speaker should take cognizance of it. He said the opposition should let Himachal be “Devbhoomi” and not make it another Punjab or Bihar.
The issue of Global Investors Meet was discussed in the assembly in the absence of opposition Congress. Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur accused the opposition of not being serious about business investment in the state as Congress members had neither attended the summit nor the assembly session to discuss the issue.
On the first day of the winter session on Monday, Congress had alleged corruption in holding the meet and walked out of the assembly after they were not allowed to use an adjournment motion to discuss the issue. They walked out after creating uproar in the assembly on Tuesday too. Thakur said it would have been better had Congress MLAs been in the House and given their suggestions and views on the summit. “On one hand, Congress MLAs say jobs should be provided to the unemployed youth of the state and they are not against investment, but, on the other hand, they stage walkout,” he said during a discussion in the House. He said all the MLAs had been invited to attend the summit, but Congress legislators did not do so. He claimed the opposition was worried about the investors meet as it knew it would create problem for them in future, as when there was Congress government in the state and Mukesh Agnihotri was the industries minister, it had spent much more money on digging soil at Pandoga industrial area of Una.
The CM claimed that the first business summit in the state was successful as they attracted a large number of investors and a large number of MoUs were signed. He added that the event to attract global investors to the state was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several Union ministers, ambassadors of 10 countries and over 200 businessmen.
He said the Congress regime in 2014-15 had organised investors meet and road shows to attract investment in which then chief minister, industries minister and 23 other officers had participated.
Thakur said the then government had spent Rs 80 lakh on the events but outcome was zero as no MoU or investment proposal was signed. In 2014-15, a delegation, including then industries minister, had even gone to Germany and Russia to meet investors, but not a single proposal was received, he said. During the recent Global Investors Meet organised in Dharamshala at an expenditure of around Rs 23-24 crore, 703 MoUs worth Rs 96,000 crore were signed, he added.
Thakur also objected to the onion garlands worn by Congress legislators, who held banners and raised slogans of ” Bhajpa ka dekho khel, mehanga pyaz, mehanga tel”, ” Ye mehangi kahan se aayi, Bhajpa laayi-Bhajpa layi” to target the BJP government over price hike issue. Wearing onion garlands, Congress MLAs led by leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri trooped into the well. Bindal warned them against carrying banners and wearing garlands in the assembly, saying their action was against the set rules. However, the Congress MLAs kept raising slogans as the proceedings of the question hour continued before walking out of the assembly.
