Shimla, March 29 (IANS) The Himachal Pradesh assembly Friday witnessed a ruckus over the arrest of a loyalist of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, with the opposition BJP demanding his removal from the chairmanship of a state-run board.
As the house assembled in the morning, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Ravinder Ravi inquired about the party’s calling attention notice over the arrest of HP Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board chairman Hardeep Bawa under the Arms Act.
Ravi said it was a serious matter that a chairman of a board was in judicial custody of the Haryana Police for over 48 hours now and the government has not taken any action against him.
He demanded that the government should remove Bawa from the post immediately.
The chief minister, who gave a statement after Question Hour, said the government had still not received any official information from Haryana Police about Bawa.
“We have sought a report from the Haryana Police. We will wait and see,” he added.
“It’s an old case. Bawa received summons recently and then surrendered before the first class judicial magistrate in Kalka March 26. He is in judicial custody as per court orders,” he said.
Virbhadra Singh said media reports mentioning that Bawa was enjoying the status of a state minister were wrong.