Amid political crisis, Himachal Assembly passes budget

Shimla: Amidst the political crisis, the Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday passed the budget for 2024-25 with a voice vote. Subsequently, the House was adjourned sine die.

As the Budget was passed, BJP members staged a walkout in protest.

Earlier, Speaker Kuldeep Pathania took action by suspending 15 BJP MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur.

The suspension came minutes after Congress minister Vikramaditya Singh announced his resignation from the Cabinet, saying there were attempts to suppress the voice of MLAs, and that has led to this situation for the government.

Vikramaditya is the son of Congress stalwart and six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh.

In a stunning upset a day earlier, six Congress MLAs cross-voted in the poll for lone Rajya Sabha seat. Those who voted in favour of the BJP’s candidate were Sudhir Sharma (Dharamsala) and Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), both ministerial aspirants; Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Badsar); Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti); Chaitnaya Sharma (Gagret); and Devender Bhutto (Kutlehar). The three Independent MLAs too voted in favour of the BJP.

In a House of 68, the Congress has now a strength of 34 MLAs, the same number as the BJP.