The month long first budget session of the 13th Himachal Pradesh Assembly gave a fair chance to the new and younger leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition Congress settle down in their roles effectively.

The 17 sittings of the House saw Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur and Congress Legislature Party leader, Mukesh Agnihotri tread cautiously, looking at the their sides first.

Dr Rajeev Bindal was impressive and articulate as Speaker as he ran the session smoothly.

Himachal Pradesh has 68 members in the Assembly. Presently, the BJP has a strength of 44, Congress 21, CPM one and there are two independents.

The CM was cool, composed and steady, without going much aggressive against the previous Congress government unnecessarily. So were his ministers, as they stuck to answers than indulging in any attacks.

The CLP leader objectively ensured that the Opposition party protests and participates too in important discussions in the Assembly.

The Congress did stage a good number of walk outs and did try to pre-empt on certain issues like the government’s move aimed at possible changes in ever controversial Section 118 of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, the BJP equally rebutted any Congress charge with facts and figures.

The ruling BJP was, however, seen cornered on its agenda on austerity, to begin with, on the issue of Bill for facilities to Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip equivalent to cabinet and state minister’s rank, respectively, which was passed amid strong opposition by the Congress party.

Similarly, on withdrawal of Sports Bill, the Congress got a chance to target the BJP government with reference to controversy over Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA).

But the Opposition’s effort to pin down Jai Ram government on three months of rule visibly failed as the time was too little to assess the performance. The ruling party rather dominated on this aspect by counter-attacking Congress on same issue, referring to previous government’s comparative performance in first three months.

There were no personalised attacks in the House and no prolonged boycotts, as was done previously when BJP was in Opposition.

Senior most member of the House, six-time former CM and nine times MLA, Virbhadra Singh added to the grace and briefly intervened on some occasions to correct the ruling members.

Virbhadra’s son, youngest member in the same Assembly, first time MLA, Vikramaditya Singh (Shimla-Rural) seemed much prepared, as he participated in discussion against withdrawal of Sports Bill and the Bill on Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip of ruling party. Congress MLA Jagat Singh Negi was active participant throughout.

From BJP side, Nurpur MLA, Rakesh Pathania was aggressive and raised several significant issues pertaining to Kangra district, so as Jwalamukhi MLA, Ramesh Dhawala.

The lone CPM MLA, Rakesh Singha too registered his presence with strong arguments, although he faced a tough task of standing independent of Opposition and the ruling party. The present Assembly has 23 first time MLAs in BJP and Congress, all of whom tried to put in their best in different discussions.