The five-day winter session of Himachal Pradesh assembly came to an abrupt end today without transacting any business as Speaker BBL Butail adjourned the House sine die amidst pandemonium and sloganeering by members of the opposition BJP.
As soon as the House assembled on the last day of the winter session, BJP member Ravinder Singh Ravi was on his feet, alleging the speaker has clubbed his adjournment notice seeking discussion on allegations of corruption against chief minister Virbhadra Singh with that of Congress MLAs for discussions on development.
The speaker clarified that under rules he was competent to alter the title but BJP member Rajiv Bindal objected to it and said it "amounted to breach of trust".
The BJP MLAs appealed to the speaker to allow discussion on the notice but the latter refused to relent and disallowed the motion on the plea that the matter was sub-judice and cannot be discussed in the House.
The BJP members then started sloganeering and trooped into the Well of the House. As the sloganeering continued, the speaker adjourned the house sine die.
Leader of the Opposition P K Dhumal reminded the speaker that on December 1, after adjourning the House for 10 minutes, he had held a meeting with members of the ruling party and the opposition members where it was agreed that the matter will be discussed on December 4.
The opposition alleged that the speaker was protecting the government.
Later talking to mediapersons, Dhumal termed the decision of the speaker as "unfortunate" and alleged that the speaker was under tremendous pressure of the government not to allow discussion on the issue of corruption.
He said that the BJP would now raise the matter at all forums and expose the misdeeds of the chief minister who, he alleged, was neck deep in corruption.
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, however, termed the behaviour of BJP as "undemocratic" and an "attempt to browbeat the House and the speaker".
