Disqualify 6 MLAs from Himachal Vidhan Sabha: Jai Ram Thakur

Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur today said that the six Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPSs), whose appointment the High Court of Himachal had termed as unconstitutional, should be disqualified from the Vidhan Sabha.

Thakur welcomed the High Court decision and said that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had appointed the six CPSs in an unconstitutional and dictatorial manner. “The Chief Minister appeared to be more bothered about adjusting his supporters as Parliamentary Secretaries even if it was against the law,” he alleged.

State BJP president Rajeev Bindal and Kangra Lok Sabha MP Anurag Thakur, too, welcomed the High Court order. They said that the Congress government had appointed the CPSs unconstitutionally and burdened the public exchequer at a time when the state was facing a grave financial crisis.

They said, “The BJP will demand the disqualification of the six MLAs from the Vidhan Sabha as the HIgh Court has termed their appointment as CPSs as unconstitutional,” he added.

He said that the Congress government had appointed the six CPSs though the Supreme Court and the High Court of Himachal had in its earlier orders declared the posts as unconstitutional, the cost of which was borne by common taxpayers of the state.

Thakur added, “Besides spending huge funds on the payment of salaries and perks of the six CPSs, the state government has spent crores of rupees in paying the fees of lawyers hired to question the legitimacy of the petitions filed by the BJP. The government spent its energy and resources, which should have been used for the development of the state, to justify its dictatorial decision.”

The Leader of the Opposition said that when he became Chief Minister in 2017, he decided not to appoint CPSs as courts had declared the posts as unconstitutional but the current Congress government ignored the court judgments in this regard.