Oppn walks out, Mittal hits back
Wednesday, 18/03/2015
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=126912&boxid=57992&uid=&dat=2015-03-18
Chandigarh : The main Opposition Congress members on Tuesday staged a walkout from the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, demanding reservation for people belonging to SC/BC communities in contractual appointments in government jobs.
Congress MLA Charanjit Singh Channi moved a calling attention notice drawing attention of the House towards recruitment on contractual basis without giving reservation to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Backward Classes (BCs) community in various government departments.
However, when the Welfare of SCs and BCs Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike stood up to give a reply to the attention notice, the Congress members started sloganeering while the Speaker Dr Charanjit Singh Atwal called for the next item on agenda of the day’s proceedings.
Irked by it, the Opposition members went into the well of the House and staged a noisy demonstration before marching put of the Assembly.
However, the Opposition members returned to the House within 5 minutes after their walkout.
In their absence, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Mohan Mittal described the Opposition’s act as “most condemnable”, saying that Congress legislators have used “derogatory words” against the Leader of the House and had boycotted the Governor’s address during the ongoing Budget session.
“Congress members are not following rules of the Assembly,” he asserted, while saying the Opposition’s walkout during the Governor’s address was against the parliamentary system and democratic norms.
Urging the chair to “control” the Opposition members and “teach them some lesson or warn them”, Mittal said that “everyday they raise Majithia’s issue.
This prompted Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia to lash out at Congress for playing “divisive politics” for raising queries on issues on the basis of caste and religion.
