Himachal Pradesh assembly: In a first, father-son duo take oath of office

Among all newly elected MLAs who were administered oath by Speaker Ramesh Dhawala, there were 23 new faces, 17 of them from the BJP, four from Congress and two independents. BJP has total 44 members in the new House, Congress has 21.

But the most touching scene came when Pratibha Singh (two-time MP and wife of Virbhadra Singh) watched her son Vikramaditya walk up to the Speaker’s podium and later took her blessings with folded hands. Former Speaker BBL Butail was another Congress leader whose son Ashish Butail walked up to him in the VVIP galley to touch his feet.

There was a big round of applause in the House when Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur’s name was called for the oath. He was followed by Mahender Singh –a senior cabinet minister and others. Anil Sharma, a former minister, who had quit Congress to join the BJP before the poll, was the only member who remained minister on both the sides.

Young leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri – a four-time MLA – also attracted attention when he took oath of office. There were four women MLAs, including Urban Development Minister Sraveen Chaudhary and senior Congress MLA Asha Kumari, besides two new faces – Rita Dhiman and Kamlesh Kumari.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA Rakesh Singha will be the lone left-wing leader, apart from two independents Prakash Rana, a Dubai-returned businessman and Hoshiar Singh.

The Opposition benches cheered when Rajender Rana, who had defeated former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, walked through the House taking oath as an MLA.

Before the start of the House, Jai Ram Thakur walked to his predecessor Virbhadra and other opposition MLAs for extending his customary greetings for getting elected to the House and sought their cooperation.

“I also greeted new leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri and wished him well. I hope we two being young leaders can do well in shaping the state’s future as opposition is expected to cooperative with the government,” said the chief minister.

The Winter Session of the Assembly which began today will end on January 12.