CHANDIGARH: The three-day winter session of the Himachal Pradesh assembly has been postponed after the newly appointed Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu tested COVID-19 positive on Monday.
A thanksgiving rally of the Congress has also been put off and this may delay cabinet expansion as well which was to be held after the Assembly winter session scheduled to start in Dharamsala on December 22. The new dates for the winter session of the assembly would be decided later.
Sukhu underwent the Covid test as part of the protocol before meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After meeting the Prime Minister, Sukhu was to return to Shimla and participate in the oath ceremony of protem speaker Chander Kumar at Raj Bhawan.
The Congress had planned the ‘Aabhaar rally’ slated to be organized at Dharamasala on December 21 to express gratitude to the people of the state, particularly voters of Kangra, for supporting the party. In Kangra, the party won 10 of the 15 Assembly seats which led it to come to power.
The party won 40 seats in the 68-member assembly on December 8. Principal advisor (media) to the CM, Naresh Chauhan said, “All programmes of the CM scheduled from December 21 to 24 have been postponed since he has tested Covid positive.”
“The chief minister is asymptomatic and as a precautionary measure has quarantined himself and all his engagements have been postponed for a week as per Ministry of Health norms,” he said. Sukhu’s falling sick may also delay the cabinet expansion as well as it was to be held after the assembly’s winter session.
Sukhu along with Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and state Congress president Pratibha Singh besides all the MLAs from the hill state had joined former Congress president Rahul Gandhi in his Bharat Jodo Yatra at Alwar in Rajasthan on December 16.
Channi back after a break, meets Priyanka, Kharge; to join Yatra
After ‘missing’ from action for months, former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi is back in India and met Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. He is expected to participate in the Bharat Jodo Yatra that will enter Punjab around January 10. Channi met with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to congratulate the latter on the party’s recent victory in Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections and tweeted, “Congratulated Smt. @priyankagandhi Ji for the party’s historic victory in Himachal Pradesh polls.’’
Sources said that Channi is apprehensive of action by the state vigilance department that might question him in the illegal mining case in which his nephew is involved and was also arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. The bureau might question Channi in an illegal mining case and also in another case related to sports kits. According to sources close to Channi, during his stay abroad former CM Channi reportedly underwent treatment for an eye ailment and also worked on a PhD thesis, as he has been pursuing PhD studies from Punjab University on ‘Indian National Congress Central organisation and electoral strategy since 2004’.