Shimla: The standoff between Himachal Pradesh and the Centre over the Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) is set to intensify as Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla deviated from the convention to read his pre-prepared address to the state Assembly, which began its session in Shimla on Monday.
The Governor, in his opening remarks, welcomed the members of the House in the Budget session and extended his greetings, hoping that they would deliberate on the issues well.
Yet immediately after this, he surprised the House when he expressed his inability to read certain parts of the address, pointing out that this has some critical references to the constitutional body i.e 16th Finance Commission, which had recommended stopping the RDG for Himachal Pradesh.
He said, “The speech should be deemed to have been read.” He delivered only the first two paragraphs of the 130-paragraph text.
Shukla explained, “Paragraphs 3 to 16 of my speech appear to comment on constitutional institutions. I would not like to read them. Furthermore, paragraph 17 at the end of the speech concerns the achievements of my government. The respected members of the House should analyse these achievements themselves.”
Of a 50-page speech, the Governor took barely three minutes to wind up his address. He even skipped the part of the speech about the government’s achievements, leaving it to the House to discuss.