Yog Raj Sharma
The North News
Dharamshala, November 27
The second day of the winter session in Dharamshala saw a sharp confrontation between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Himachal Pradesh government, as opposition legislators staged a protest over the alleged withholding of MLA Area Development Funds. The BJP MLAs gathered outside the assembly complex carrying placards and shouting slogans, accusing the state government of blocking funds meant for constituency-level projects. Leader of the Opposition, Jairam Thakur, said the treasury had effectively frozen funds despite budgetary provisions and necessary approvals.
“We are elected representatives. The budget has allocations, approvals are being issued, but the treasury is refusing to release money,” Thakur said. “Officials say there is no money and they cannot release more than ₹10,000. There can be no bigger mockery of democracy.”
He said roads and bridges in disaster-affected areas had been severely damaged but no support was reaching them. Constituents, he added, relied on MLA funds for urgent works, but even those were not being released.
Thakur questioned where the allocated money was going, alleging that the government was issuing tokens, collecting commissions, and delaying contractors’ payments. He described it as a “new form of corruption”, accusing the administration of bringing development work to a standstill by placing a freeze on the treasury.
Tensions in the assembly escalated further during a Rule 67 discussion on panchayat elections, when BJP MLAs protested against remarks made by Revenue Minister Jagat Negi. The opposition objected to what it called “unconstitutional” and “unparliamentary” language.
Jairam Thakur said the minister had “crossed all limits” in his remarks, adding that the opposition had urged the Speaker to strike the comments from the record. He insisted the opposition would not step back on the issue and warned that the confrontation over the development fund freeze was likely to intensify in the coming days.
