State Congress chief Kaul Singh Thakur later told reporters informally outside the assembly: 'Dhumal had first got the appointments of chief parliamentary secretaries and parliamentary secretaries in the previous Congress government quashed through the state high court and later when former chief minister Virbhadra Singh introduced a bill in the assembly to make such appointments, Dhumal opposed it too.'

He said despite having enacted the law in this regard, the Congress government did not appoint any chief parliamentary secretaries.

The 25-day session began Monday afternoon.