Amid acrimonious exchanges and sloganeering by the Opposition BJP, the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday passed a resolution urging the Centre to continue the Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) to the cash-strapped hill state.
The House witnessed repeated disruptions as Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu accused the BJP of playing politics on an issue that, he said, concerns the financial survival of the state rather than party interests.
The ruckus forced Speaker Kuldeep Pathania to adjourn proceedings for 10 minutes after BJP legislators trooped into the well of the House, raising slogans against the government.
Replying at the conclusion of a three-day debate on the resolution moved under Rule 102, Sukhu said he was willing to set aside protocol and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his Cabinet under the leadership of Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur to seek continuation of the RDG.
Trouble erupted when the Chief Minister accused the previous BJP regime of taking a “u-turn” on the issue of special financial assistance for the state. He said it was surprising that the BJP, which had sought liberal Central support when in power, was now opposing the demand after moving into the Opposition.
“I fail to understand why the LoP and the BJP have suddenly changed their stand on seeking special funds from the Centre after going into opposition,” Sukhu remarked, triggering sharp protests from the BJP benches.
The Chief Minister alleged that the BJP was preparing its cadre for the next Assembly elections in the wake of the RDG discontinuation instead of standing united for the state’s financial interests.
He asserted that the Centre was not doing a favour to Himachal by granting RDG, as the assistance was the rightful entitlement of a revenue-deficit state facing difficult geographical and developmental challenges.
Sukhu said the people of Himachal would seek answers from BJP legislators for what he termed an “anti-Himachal stance” in not backing the demand for an annual RDG of around Rs 10,000 crore. “This is not a question of Congress or BJP. We must stand together to protect the rights of the state and its people,” he said.
Targeting the previous BJP government, Sukhu alleged that it had granted concessions worth crores to large industrial houses in the form of power subsidies, leading to significant losses to the state exchequer. He also accused the former regime of distributing Rs 5,000 crore in “freebies” and opening over 600 institutions with an eye on the 2022 elections, thereby straining the state’s finances.
According to Sukhu, when the BJP assumed power in 2017, the state’s debt stood at Rs 48,000 crore. He claimed that despite receiving Rs 54,000 crore in RDG and Rs 16,000 crore in GST compensation over five years, the BJP government failed to improve the fiscal health of the state through prudent financial management.
In contrast, he said, the present Congress government had received only Rs 17,000 crore as RDG over the past three years.
Sukhu also read excerpts from speeches made by Jai Ram Thakur before the 15th and 16th Finance Commissions, in which Thakur had described Himachal as a revenue-deficit state with high developmental costs due to its tough terrain. Quoting from those representations, Sukhu questioned why the BJP had altered its position after moving to the Opposition.
