Himachal: Will be used for the first time for 4-day winter session in 2024
Himachal Pradesh: The justification of having the Vidhan Sabha building in the Tapovan area of Dharamshala is once again being debated as the government is set to hold the winter session of the Assembly from December 18 to 21 here. The justification of having the assembly complex in Dharamshala is being questioned as the huge building is being used for four days to hold the winter session for the first time in 2024. It also raises questions on the maintenance of the building throughout the year at the cost of the state exchequer at a time when the state is grappling with a financial crisis. Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania says he plans to use the assembly complex in Dharamshala for more days. In the near future, the building may be used to hold mock assembly sessions to make school children aware of the procedures of the House. The central government has recognised the assembly complex in Dharamshala as a centre for learning e-Vidhan proceedings or holding assembly proceedings online. He said, “We can organize training for MLAs from other states in this assembly complex.
Besides, the complex will also be made available to various research agencies attached to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.” This assembly complex is linked to the demand for giving second capital status to Dharamshala in Kangra district. Kangra, with 15 assembly constituencies, is the largest and politically most important district in the state. The hilly areas of Punjab were merged with Himachal in 1966. Present Kangra, Kullu, Lahaul and Spiti, Hamirpur, Una, Solan and parts of present Shimla district were earlier in Punjab. In 1990, the Shanta Kumar-led BJP accused the then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh of being biased towards the lower or merged areas of Himachal. This political rhetoric benefited the BJP and it contested 51 seats and won 46 seats and Shanta Kumar became the Chief Minister of the state for the second time. However, the BJP government lasted only for two and a half years as the then Congress government at the Centre dismissed three BJP governments under Article 356 of the Constitution after the Babri Masjid demolition.
Mid-term elections were held and Virbhadra Singh once again came to power in the state in 1993. To counter the BJP’s narrative that he was biased towards lower Himachal regions, Virbhadra took the initiative of organising the Chief Minister’s winter sojourn in Kangra and other districts of lower Himachal in December and January in 1993. Virbhadra Singh also took the decision to set up the Assembly complex in Dharamshala during his tenure as Chief Minister from 2003 to 2007. He held the first winter session of the Assembly at Prayas Bhawan in Dharamshala from December 26 to 29 in 2005. Virbhadra Singh laid the foundation stone of the Assembly complex on February 14, 2006 and inaugurated it on December 26 the same year. Although Virbhadra Singh built the assembly complex in Dharamshala, he could not win many assembly seats in Kangra district in the 2007 assembly elections. Once again in 2007, the BJP won 11 out of 15 assembly seats in Kangra and Prem Kumar Dhumal formed the government by winning 41 seats.
