Shimla: Claiming that the BJP workers were being stopped by police about 10 km from the protest venue, the party legislators on Thursday moved out of the House.
The BJP on Thursday held a ‘Maha Pradarshan’ at Chaura Maidan near the Assembly to protest against the “mafia raj” in Himachal Pradesh.
Raising the issue in the Vidhan Sabha, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur said that water cannons have been brought from other states to stop the BJP’s protest.
He said that in a democratic setup, the opposition should be allowed to speak inside the House as well as outside it but the opposition is being “prevented from speaking its mind”.
“I spoke to the DGP and the SP and told them that the protest would be peaceful, but still the cops are stopping people from reaching the venue,” he said and moved out of the House along with other BJP MLAs to join the protest.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the ‘walkout’ should not be recorded as the Opposition left without any reason.
He said that the government has issued no instructions to police to stop people from coming to the protest site. The height of barricades has been increased to ensure that people do not hurt themselves by climbing the them, he added.
