Himachal: Congress legislators submit breach of privilege notice against BJP MLA Sudhir Sharma

Shimla, Sep 2 (PTI) Congress legislators on Tuesday submitted a breach of privilege notice against BJP's Dharmashala MLA Sudhir Sharma to the speaker of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly as the Monsoon session concluded.

The Congress MLAs alleged that Sharma tried to tarnish the image of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and spread misleading propaganda by sharing his letter written to Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on social media.

Sharma, a former minister, had on August 25 submitted notice for privilege motion against CM Sukhu for "misleading the House and making false statements" and shared the copy on his Facebook account.

The Congress MLAs said that it was inappropriate to make the notice public until the speaker decides whether to send the letter to the Privilege Committee or not. Terming it as a breach of privilege, they demanded strict action from the speaker.

The Congress members urged the speaker to take this matter seriously and ensure that action is taken against Sharma as per the rules.

In his notice on August 25, Sharma said that on multiple occasions, the chief minister gave replies which did not correspond to facts, statements regarding government policies and announcements have been found to be misleading and untrue and these statements have misled not only the House but also the public at large.

However, Speaker Pathania had rejected the notice citing that no rules under which the notice has been given is mentioned following which Sharma again submitted the notice citing rules.

The speaker had earlier maintained that the notice cannot be shared as it was under consideration. "The notices cannot be given for mere publicity and there are rules if the notice is baseless," he said and added that "certainly we will take appropriate action at the relevant time". PTI BPL KVK KVK