BJP moves breach of privilege notice against Himachal CM

The BJP today moved a breach of privilege notice in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh over his reported remarks dubbing party MLAs "bonded labourers of one family".
"A notice for privilege motion against Virbhadra Singh has been given to Speaker B B L Butail," leader of Opposition Prem Kumar Dhumal told reporters here.
He said the CM in his press briefings yesterday dubbed BJP members "bonded labourers of one family".
The chief whip of the BJP Legislative Party, Suresh Bhardwaj, said all 26 party MLAs are signatory to the notice.
Dhumal said the BJP members would not participate in the debate on motion of thanks on the Governor's address, and added that his party would vociferously raise the issue of corruption.

Talking to reporters earlier, Dhumal said, "It had become a habit of the Chief Minister to pass derogatory remarks against MLAs and then back off."

He said during the winter session in Dharamsala, the Chief Minister had called him (Dhumal) a "muscleman" and yesterday he dubbed the BJP MLAs "bonded labourers", and added that "in such an insulting situation, what discussions can we have in the Assembly".
"If some MLAs make a mistake, the leader of the House can correct it, but if the leader himself has a habit of making derogatory remarks then who is going to help it," he said, adding that the BJP would continue to protest against the remarks of the CM.

Dhumal said the state government was creating an atmosphere so that the House did not run properly, and asked, "How can you expect the House to run smoothly if abuses are hurled at the opposition members."
He criticised the Chief Minister for correlating the BJP protests with inquiries against the erstwhile government, and said, "The government is free to take whatever action it wants to take and no one is afraid of...But there has been selective leakage by the vigilance bureau to tarnish the image of BJP leaders.