CM Jai Ram Thakur during the Assembly session. Pradeep Kumar
Terming the Opposition walkout on Tuesday a highly shameful and disgraceful act, an angry Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur told the Congress that it has made a “wrong” beginning by taking up a non-issue related to Section 118 of HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972, as “no change/amendment was proposed or done”. Thakur made it clear that the government will not succumb to any pressure from the Opposition, since he heads a stable government committed to the state’s development and has come to power with a two-third majority.
I wonder why the Congress was in such a hurry. We had tried to act with lots of restraints and patience during Congress’s rules. I think it’s a bad inning you started with me. I never wanted to take any hasty action,” he said in the House. The Chief Minister warned the Congress that he will unravel its follies and illegalities committed during its five years’ regime and even before very soon. “Most of these things were in the knowledge of the government. The Congress should wait before jumping the guns. This walkout was aimed to score a headline by people (Congress Legislature Party leader Mukesh Agnihotri who led the walkout) who were given responsibility to lead the Congress in the House.
He made it emphatically clear that no change/amendment in Section 118 of HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972, was proposed or done. “What we want is simplification of the rules, not change in the section, to remove some undesired hurdles .The objective is to attract investments in hydro-power sector, tourism and industry. We have asked for suggestions from the stakeholders. Let the Congress also use the platform to suggest some procedural simplifications. It’s only after that the government will be in a position to tell as what was being done. Today, even I don’t know what the final picture will emerge as and if something can be done or not,” said the CM.
Thakur added changes in Section 118 has been made six times and mostly during the Congress rules, barring twice done by the BJP government. He read out former chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s budget speech of 2014-15 where he had also spoken about the need for changes in the section to enable easy investments and land transfers to the investors.
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