Five Congress MLAs Manhandle HP Governor Following His Address In Parliament

Some Congress MLAs allegedly manhandled Himachal Pradesh Governor Bandaru Dattatraya when he was leaving the Assembly after his address on the opening day of the Budget Session on Friday. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Bhardwaj said the governor was manhandled when he was going to his vehicle after the session, and moved a motion to suspend five Congress MLAs — Leader of the Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri and MLAs Harsh Vardhan Chauhan, Sunder Singh Thakur, Satpal Raizada and Vinay Kumar. The Assembly, which was adjourned till 2 pm on Monday earlier in the day, was reconvened at 1 pm on Friday to consider the motion moved by Bhardwaj. Earlier, the Governor could read only the last line of his address to the Assembly amid a ruckus by members of the opposition Congress.

As soon as the House assembled at 11 am, the Congress members led by Leader of the Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri rose from their seats and raised slogans. Following din in the House, the Governor read the last line of his address and stated that the entire speech should be deemed as read.

The Congress members alleged that contents of the address were “a bundle of lies”. They stated that the issue of increase in cooking gas, petrol and diesel prices was not included in the address. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur condemned the behaviour of the Congress members in the House and said it was uncalled for. The session is scheduled to conclude on March 20.

The chief minister will present the budget for 2021-22 in the Assembly on March 6, Speaker Vipin Parmar had said on Thursday.

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