In a unique protest against the Himachal Pradesh government after the opposition members were denied debate on backdoor entries in jobs, ignoring merit in recruitment and jobs on compassionate grounds, Congress members on Monday held symbolic assembly within assembly to put forward their views and concerns on the issues.

Aa soon as the assembly convened on 3rd day of ongoing winter session at Tapovan in Dharmashala in Kangra district, opposition members including the Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri, Ram Lal Thakur, Asha Kumari, Sunder Singh Thakur, Vinay Kumar and Vikramaditya Singh sought debate under Rule 67.

The debate was however denied by HP Vidhan Sabha Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar by saying that under Rule 67 debate on more than one issue can’t be held.

“Rule 69 (2) of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly doesn’t allow debate on more than one topic under Rule 67, hence, the motion is being rejected,” Parmar added.

This led to Congress members moving into the well of the house and they put forward their views on backdoor entries in jobs, ignoring merit in recruitment and jobs on compassionate grounds by holding symbolic assembly inside Vidhan Sabha.

Agnihotri, Ram Lal Thakur, Harshvardhan Chauhan, Asha Kumari, Jagat Singh Negi, Vikramaditya Singh and Bhawani Singh Pathania addressed Congress members and expressed their views in the assembly.

The members even passed resolutions on these issues including the implementation of the Old Pension Scheme, SMC teachers with Ram Lal Thakur presiding over the symbolic assembly as Speaker. The opposition members later staged a walkout from the house.

Talking to the media, Ram Lal Thakur said the state government was ignoring the issues of the common man who were already facing the brunt of Covid pandemic and in addition, they were not being allowed to raise their issues.

“The Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur government was indulging in backdoor entries in jobs, ignoring merit in recruitment and refusing jobs to persons on compassionate grounds.

The unemployment rate in the state has increased to 14 per cent which is the highest in the country and the number of unemployed youth is over 14 lakh.

Instead of providing job opportunities to them, the government was indulging in recruitment on an outsourcing basis wherein merit and reservation roster was not being followed,” he added.

He also accused the state government of creating unrest in police force by not removing pay parity in constables salaries and added it will push them towards corruption.

Meanwhile, State Jal Shakti minister Mahender Singh Thakur termed Congress members protest as a mere gimmick and said the opposition members were taking such steps to disrupt the proceedings of the house as was the case in the past.