BJP to corner Himachal govt. in Assembly over closure of institutions, schools

Budget Session of Himachal Pradesh State Assembly will begin on March 14 and end on April 6; CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu will present the Budget on March 17

As the Budget Session of the Himachal Pradesh State Assembly is slated to start on March 14, the principal Opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to corner the ruling Congress government surrounding the incumbent government’s decisions of closing several offices and institutions, including schools and colleges, among other issues.

The Budget Session of the Himachal Pradesh State Assembly will end on April 6. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu will present the Budget for 2023-24 on March 17.

Former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh State Assembly, Jairam Thakur on March 13 told The Hindu that since it came to power a few months ago, the Congress government was working with a ‘vindictive’ approach.

“We will expose the anti-people stance and policies of the ruling Congress government in the upcoming Assembly Session. We will seek answers from the government over its anti-people decisions, which are purely based on ‘vendetta politics’,” said Mr. Thakur.

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Mr. Thakur said the State government had passed orders to close-denotify many government institutions, including schools and colleges, opened by the former BJP government, which was unfortunate. “Since Congress came to power, over 620 government institutions-offices etc. have been closed in the State. Besides 19 colleges and over 280 schools are being shut down. Our government had opened all the institutions for the poor, but the State government’s decision to close them only reveals the anti-poor mindset and vindictiveness of the Congress,” he said.

In Shimla, the BJP members held an ‘Akrosh rally’ against the government’s decisions of denotification-closures of institutions. The BJP also collected signatures as part of their campaign against the closures of institutions to be submitted to Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla.