The opposition Congresson Wednesday walked out from Himachal Pradesh Assembly after expressing their dissatisfaction over Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur's reply on pay anomalies of outsource employees.
The chief minister, however, said the opposition party was "frustrated" by the latest developments in Madhya Pradesh where their leader, Jyotiraditya Scindia, quit the party and joined the BJP.
A day after resigning from the Congress, Scindia joined the BJP on Wednesday in presence of the ruling party's president J P Nadda and hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his leadership, saying the country's future is secure in his hands.
Speaking during the question hour in the ongoing Budget session in the state assembly, Thakur accused the Congress of making walkouts a "routine affair".
The Congress legislators walked out from the House when the chief minister held the previous Congress government responsible for exploitation of outsource employees.
The previous Congress government did nothing to regularise the outsource employees during its tenure of five years, but promised to regularise them right before the last assembly elections in 2017, Thakur said.
Earlier responding to Barsar Congress MLA Inder Dutt Lakhanpal's question, the chief minister informed the House, "Recruitment and promotion rules do not apply for outsource employees as they are not government employees. They are employees of service provider companies with whom their agreements have been made."
As per the agreement, service provider companies are bound to pay outsource employees minimum wages, he added.
The state government is trying to ensure that the outsource employees are not exploited, the BJP leader said, adding provisions have been made to provide travel allowance, daily allowance and medical leave to them besides the provision of maternity leave.
It has also been made mandatory that the outsource employees be provided monthly salary slips, the chief minister added.
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