Shimla, Mar 25 (PTI) The BJP on Wednesday walked out of the Assembly House, raising slogans after a heated exchange in the wake of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s reply on the Budget 2026-27.
The general discussion on the budget estimates for the financial year 2026-27 in the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha concluded with the reply of the chief minister, who asserted that the government concealed nothing in the budget.
Sukhu claimed that in previous budgets, amounts ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 crore were often shown as allocated to various schemes, even though such funds were, in reality, not available.
He said the previous BJP government received approximately Rs 70,000 crore in the form of Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) and GST, yet it left the state burdened with a debt of nearly Rs 76,000 crore.
Sukhu said the BJP left the state in a dire financial crunch similar to that in Sri Lanka.
He said a vigilance inquiry has been ordered into alleged irregularities in the Himcare scheme, which led to heated exchanges between the Congress and BJP MLAs.
Earlier in the day, Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi sent the House into uproar with his remarks, prompting Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania to expunge some of his remarks from official records of the proceedings.
Negi alleged that the Centre is trying to cause financial harm to Himachal Pradesh, citing the 16th Finance Commission’s decision to discontinue the RDG as an example.
MLA Satpal Singh Satti objected to the remarks and warned him against using such rhetoric.
Opposing the reduction in the MLA Local Area Development Fund, he argued that the very fund is utilised to execute small-scale development projects.
He also alleged that law and order is in shambles in the state, corruption is rising, and activities of the land and forest mafias are waxing.
BJP MLA Anil Sharma, referring to the government’s electoral guarantees, suggested that the administration should at least remove the hoardings displayed along roadsides, which promise the creation of one lakh jobs annually Congress MLA Anuradha Rana raised the issue of the discontinuation of the RDG, which, she said, had been established only after careful deliberation.
She claimed that the state was yet to receive Rs 1,500 crore, pledged by the prime minister in relief after last year’s monsoon disaster. PTI BPL VN VN
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