The Congress party MLAs, who had gathered in Dharamsala for the opening session of the House, on Tuesday decided to support the candidature of Brij Bihari Lal Butail, 71, for the post of the Speaker of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly.
Butail is the only one to file his nomination papers in the House, who is likely to be formally elected tomorrow.
Ever since Virbhadra Singh led the Congress party to victory in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, he has been calling the shots, but not in the case of the Speaker where the rival camp’s wish has prevailed.
Congress law makers, including Kaul Singh, Asha Kumari, G S Bali and Butail and Union commerce minister Anand Sharma had objected to the Congress high command on Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh appointing his loyalists such as Ram Lal Thakur, Kuldeep Singh Pathania, Subhash Manglet , Harshvardhan Chauhan, all of whom had lost the recent elections, at important political positions like chairmen and vice-chairmen of PSUs and other government bodies.
On this ground, leaders of the rival camp cried foul and last week took the matter to the court of the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
The finalisation of Butail’s name is a strong indication that Virbhadra has had to give in to the vociferous demands of the rival camp .
For a while, Virbhadra had been pushing the name of his loyalist Kuldeep Kumar, an MLA from Una district, for the Speaker’s post .
It now remains to be seen who will be the candidate for the president of the Pradesh Congress Committee, which has just fallen vacant after Virbhadra Singh resigned to take over the chief ministership.
Is the state party chief’s post go to a Virbhadra loyalist or id the rival camp going to triumph remains a suspense.
Newly-elected MLAs take oath
All but one newly-elected members of the 68-seat Himachal Pradesh Assembly took oath on the opening day of the four-day session of the House which began on Tuesday. Pro-tem Speaker Mansa Ram administered the oath to 66 members at the Tapovan Vidhan Sabha complex near here.
Senior Congress leader Mansa Ram, a member of the House, was sworn-in earlier.
The Congress MLA from Doon, Ram Kumar Chowdhary, who was booked by the Panchkula Police in a murder case, did not take oath. He was found absent when his name was called. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was the first to take oath followed by Leader of the Opposition P K Dhumal and Irrigation and Public Health minister Vidya Stokes. Other members were administered oath district-wise. Brothers Maheshwar Singh and Karan Singh, elected on HLP and Congress tickets from Kullu and Banjjar constituencies respectively, were sworn-in.
There are 22 first-timers in the House.
Three woman — Vidya Stokes, Sarveen Chowdhary and Asha Kumari — and five MLAs with royal background —Virbhadra Singh, Maheshwar Singh, Karan Singh, Aniruddh Singh and Asha Kumari —are members of the House.
