Kuldeep Singh Pathania on Monday administered the oath of office and secrecy to the three newly elected MLAs at the Vidhan Sabha, Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

The MLAs, who took the oath of office on Monday, included Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Suku from Dehra, Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur and Hardeep Singh Baba from Nalagarh.

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This is the first time in the history of the state legislative assembly both husband-wife duo is its members.

Secretary of Legislative Assembly Yashpal Sharma conducted the proceedings.

Addressing the media after the oath ceremony, Kuldeep Singh Pathania said, “The three newly elected members have taken oath as members of the Legislative Assembly and I extend my hearty congratulations and best wishes to all of them.”

Expressing hope that all of them will give their valuable support in the State Legislative Assembly, he said, “I expect that all of them will live up to the expectations of the people of their respective constituencies and will work in public interest with a spirit of dedication and will try to find solutions to the problems of their area.”

Responding to a media query relating to the upcoming monsoon session, the Speaker said that it is a constitutional responsibility to start the monsoon session before 28 July, because the budget session had concluded on 28 February, therefore, it is mandatory to organize the session within six months.

The monsoon session would be held in the last week of August, he added.

The chief minister, who participated in the oath-taking ceremony of the three newly elected MLAs, congratulated the newly elected MLAs on the occasion.

Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, Deputy Speaker Vinay Kumar, Ministers, and MLAs were also present on the occasion.

Later, while interacting with the media, Sukhu said that the people of Himachal Pradesh have firmly rejected the politics of horse trading. He alleged a conspiracy hatched by the BJP to topple the elected government, resulting in Assembly by-elections.

The Congress party, he said, exposed the BJP’s conspiracy to the voters, who responded decisively in favour of the Congress Party.

The chief minister said the Congress representation in the Assembly has again increased to 40 MLAs and urged the BJP leaders to abandon negative politics and cooperate with the state government for the development of the state.

He also asked the BJP to stop obstructing projects from the Union government meant for the state in the larger interest of the people.

Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the state government had worked on a war footing during the disaster period last year, receiving global appreciation.

“Despite meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the state has not received any assistance from the Centre for disaster relief,” he rued.

Responding to a media question, the chief minister criticised the previous BJP government for excessive borrowings without investing in development works.

“The present government is forced to take loans to repay the interest on the inherited debt. Nonetheless, steps taken in the past year have improved the state’s economic condition by twenty percent,” he claimed.

He reiterated the Congress government’s commitment to continue to work in the interest of the people relentlessly and make concerted efforts to make Himachal Pradesh self-reliant.