Monsoon Assembly session not so fruitful, says Bhattal

Friday, 25/09/2015

http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=140598&boxid=57929&uid=&dat=2015-09-25

Chandigarh: Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said here on Thursday that the alleged autocratic attitude of the ruling alliance reduced the Monsoon Session to futile exercise. She said that the Monsoon Session of assembly having only a few sittings was convened as a mere formality.

Cong forces adjournment for farmers
Chandigarh : The main Opposition Congress on Thursday said that Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had “betrayed” the farmers in the state by not taking any “concrete and conclusive” action against the two top officers of Agriculture Department for having scripted the pesticide scam. “I always accord very high respect to Badal Sahib for the fact that he always considers him to be a farmer first and politician later. But the way he has dithered from taking action against agriculture director and commissioner, he has not only shaken my faith in him but has betrayed the farmers especially the cotton growers,” Congress legislative party leader Sunil Jakhar said.

Addressing media in the CLP office soon after the party MLAs raised a noisy protest forcing the Speaker to adjourn the Assembly for 25 minutes, Jakhar said the Congress was ready to listen to Badal’s reply on discussion on the current agrarian crisis provided he announces “concrete action” against the erring officials. “We have conveyed that we will patiently sit and hear him, even for five consecutive hours but before starting his reply the Chief Minister must clarify his stand on the role of Agriculture Director, Commissioner and Minister in pesticide scam. He knows well who has committed what kind of wrong,” he said.

CLP leader said that if the Chief Minister Badal indeed believed that the failure of cotton crop by whitefly attack was a natural calamity, then he should first announce the “clean chit” for the trio. Secondly, he added, the Congress wants his stand to be cleared on the content of suicide note recovered from the farmer who ended his life in Bathinda on Wednesday, who categorically held the state government responsible for his death. “His suicide note blames Punjab government. Therefore, we want to know that against whom CM Sahib will order the registration of FIR for abetting the suicide,” he asked.

HEATED EXCHANGES
As the Congress leaders started sloganeering against the state government, the House on Thursday witnessed heated exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches. The acrimony surfaced when Jakhar sought to raise and demanded a specific reply form the government on suicide committed by farmer Kuldeep Singh at Bathinda. However, minutes later the exchange of heated arguments followed leading to the House’s adjournment for 25 minutes. Even after the House was adjourned, verbal duel between SAD-BJP and Congress leaders continued with the Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) and SAD MLA Virsa Singh Valtoha and Congress MLAs Amarinder Singh Raja Warring indulging in loud shouting and personalised sloganeering against each other. While Voltoha was joined in by party colleagues Desh raj Dhugga and Manpreet Ayali who too started challenging the Congress leaders, Raja Warring was supported by Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Kuljeet Singh Nagra. Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi too joined the war of words but was pacified by other BJP leaders including Madam Monhan Mittal, who took Valtoha to other side.

AGAINST CHAUTALA’S SHIFTING TO PUNJAB
With the acrimony growing between treasury benches and opposition, the Congress raised strong objections to Punjab government’s consent to shift former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala to Bathinda central jail from Tihar in the national capital. Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Congress MLA from Dera Baba Nanak Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa flayed the state government for okaying the shifting of Chautala to Bathinda jail stating that all was the result of “Badal’s love for Chautalas.” “What’s motive behind the move,” he asked.

CONG NOT ‘HAPPY’ WITH SPEAKER
The opposition members were also critical of the Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal for not allowing them to raise a few ‘key issues” including those related to involvement of close aides of BJP president Kamal Sharma in drug nexus. “We tried to raise these issues but we were not allowed,” said Jakhar. Earlier infuriated for not being allowed to raise question, independent MLAs Balwinder Singh Bains and Simerjit Singh Bains accused Speaker of playing a “partisan” role. “We have sent our questions three months in advance but are never allowed to take up these on the floor of the House, thus forcing us to talk about his partisan role,” said Bains brothers. Speaker, however, disagreed.