The opposition Congress on Thursday walked out from the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, protesting the arrest of former finance minister P Chidambaram.
Congress MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri raised slogans before staging the walkout.
Agnihotri rose from his seat soon after the Question Hour at noon and stated that Chidambaram's arrest was a "murder of democracy".
However, Speaker Rajiv Bindal stopped him from raising the issue, stating no notice for discussion was given.
Soon after Congress MLAs started raising slogans “Modi Sarkar Murdabad". Countering them, BJP MLAs raised slogans like “Chor Machaye Shor.”
Subsequently Congress MLAs staged a walkout from the House.
Condemning the walkout by the Congress, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the Centre had nothing to do with Chidambaram's arrest and that he had been arrested after rejection of his bail plea by the high court. The Congress walkout over the issue amounts to raising questions on the judiciary, he added.
2018 SAW A DIP IN TOURISTS VISITING HIMACHAL
The number of foreign and domestic tourists visiting Himachal Pradesh declined by 10 per cent in the April-June 2018 tourist season as compared to the corresponding period in 2016 and 2017, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has said.
As per the data provided by Thakur in the state Assembly, 1.25 lakh foreign tourists visited the state in the tourist season from April to June last year. The number is over ten percent less as compared to foreigners visiting Himachal Pradesh in the three months in 2016 and 2017.
In reply to a question by Congress MLA Sunder Singh Thakur, the chief minister said 1.42 lakh and 1.36 lakh foreign tourists had visited the state from April to June in 2017 and 2016 respectively.
Similarly, the number of domestic tourists also saw a dip. Only 52.89 lakh domestic tourists visited Himachal Pradesh from April to June in 2018, which is much less as compared to 59.38 lakh and 55.20 lakh who had visited the state during the same period in 2017 and 2016 respectively.
The data also found that the highest number of foreign and domestic tourists visited Himachal Pradesh in the month of June, followed by April and May in the last three years.
