HP: Cong, BJP to chalk out strategy for Assembly session

Congress and BJP legislature parties will hold separate meetings here tomorrow to chalk out their floor strategies for the monsoon session of Himachal Pradesh Assembly which begins on August 22.
The six-day session will have five sittings.
The government is likely to ratify the Constitution Amendment Bill on GST during the session, besides introducing the Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill which seeks to regularise unauthorised structures on "as is, where is" basis.
The session is likely to be stormy as BJP has already announced that it would raise issues like activities of various mafias, deteriorating law and order situation and failure of governance.

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Later Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said in Palampur that the cases against him were the result of conspiracy hatched by the "cricket mafia" active in the country.

He alleged Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely and BJP MP Anurag Thakur were behind the move.
He said Jaitley had been the president of Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) for a long time and suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad had levelled serious allegations of corruption against him.
Thakur is at present the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the son of leader of the opposition P K Dhumal.

Singh said that CBI had given him a clean chit when the issue was raised in the Assembly ahead of 2012 polls, but after the change of government the case was reopened.
Defending the decision of the Speaker to not allow the discussion on the cases against him, he said that as the matter was sub-judice, it could not be discussed in the House under rules.
Reacting sharply to the decision of the Speaker and comments of the chief minister, Dhumal said that an attempt was being made to throttle the voice of opposition.
He said when it suited the government, matters even under consideration of the Supreme Court were discussed in the House but when it came to the discussion relating to corruption cases against the chief minister, rules were being quoted.

He said BJP would not allow this partisan attitude and continue to protest.