Journalism of Courage
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is getting ready to corner the government in Himachal Pradesh on the issue of department closures during the upcoming Assembly session, even as lobbying inside the Congress intensifies on the issue of portfolio distributions under Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu.
The Assembly session is currently scheduled to be held from January 4 to January 6 in Dharamshala, after being postponed last month.
As per details, the Assembly session of the newly-elected Sukhu government in Himachal was originally slated to take place in December last year. However, CM Sukhu contracted Covid, leading to a delay in both convening of the government’s first Assembly session, as well as much-awaited Cabinet expansion and distribution of portfolios. The Congress, which was voted to power on December 8, has also cited state Governor Rajendra Arlekar being away from office owing to official tours as another reason for delay in the holding the Assembly session.
So far, the state government has only made administrative appointments, with Prabodh Saxena being named as the Chief Secretary and Kiran Badhana appointed as the Information Department Officer, among others.
“One of the key points that we plan to raise is that a bunch of departments of the state have been closed, without the current government having a proper Cabinet in place. The government has been taking all decisions minus a functional Cabinet and a Vidhan Sabha session is also going to be held without any ministerial berths. The government has delayed the process and needs to be held accountable for the same,” said Karan Nanda, the state BJP spokesperson.
In one of its first moves, the Sukhu government had earlier denotified health institutions created or upgraded after April 1 in Himachal. The institutions included primary and community health centres, besides local hospitals.
Besides shutting down tehsils, the government had then also denotified 15 divisions of the electricity department, leading to the closure of more than 30 offices. The government has also announced the de-notification of 15 circles and sub-divisions of the electricity department in regions such as Mandi, Seraj, Bhattiyar, and Jawalamukhi. More than 70 revenue offices have been denotified and a forest department has also been shut down by the newly formed Congress government. Nine Kanungo (revenue) circles in Mandi, Una and Sirmaur, too, have been abolished.
The delay in Cabinet expansion has also led to hectic lobbying by several camps, eyeing various ministerial berths. In the last week of December, a number of MLAs had visited Delhi in order to pitch for Cabinet positions through the Congress party high command. Among the many probables whio have thrown their hats in the ring for various berths are Himachal’s oldest MLA Dhani Ram Shendi, Kasumpti MLA Anirudh Singh, Kotkhai MLA Rohit Thakur Jubbal, and Shima Rural MLA Vikramaditya Singh, who is also the son of Himachal Congress chief Pratibha Singh.
As per senior sources in the Congress, the Cabinet berths will be handed out according to regions, and not more than two MLAs being allotted ministerial berths from Shimla. The selections, the sources promised, will be balanced across lower Himachal regions.
“The Cabinet formation and allotment of ministerial berths will take place very soon. There were unforeseen delays but the Chief Minister is keen to unveil his new Cabinet as soon as possible. We are tracking the availability of the Governor for the oath ceremonies. The government functioning is on track and the session will be fruitful as several beneficial policies for the state are being formulated,” said Naresh Chauhan, Principal Advisor to CM.
