Congress for privilege motion against deputy chief minister

Wednesday, 09/03/2016

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CHANDIGARH: The Congress on Tuesday demanded that assembly speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal bring in a privilege motion against deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who holds the home portfolio, for “using force against the Congress MLAs” and stopping them from entering the Vidhan Sabha.

Congress legislators protesting outside the assembly in Chandigarh on Tuesday. 

Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Charanjit Singh Channi said he had written to the speaker to bring in the privilege motion against the deputy CM. “He (Sukhbir) is in charge of the home department, and for the police using force against MLAs he is directly responsible. We will continue to raise our voice for people’s sake,” he said. 

Channi has also written to the speaker to include in the obituary references the names of all those killed after being run over by rashly driven buses, especially private ones, on the roads of Punjab. “The state is losing precious lives because of the casual approach of the government. At least, we can pay them homage,” he said. 

Obituary references will come up in the Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday. 

The CLP leader said that in a communication sent to the speaker, he had also demanded including the names of the two men killed in the Behbal Kalan firing by police last year. 

“The SAD-BJP government must realise that the innocent people killed in police firing were because of the failure of the government in dealing with the situation properly, so they must apologise,” Channi said, adding that the Congress had also demanded that the name of Bhim Sain, the Dalit youth murdered in Abohar, be added in the list of obituary references. The Congress has also decided to seek condemnation of damage to the properties and business establishments of Punjabis in Haryana during the Jat stir. “It was a repetition of Gujarat where properties of people from outside the state were targeted. We must raise voice for Punjabis wherever they are living,” Channi said. 

SAME ISSUE, DIFFERENT BJP VOICES
While senior BJP leader Madan Mohan Mittal said the Centre did not do the right thing in asking Punjab for ` 6.3 crore for deploying paramilitary forces during the Pathankot attack, his party colleague Navjot Kaur Sidhu said,“If the Centre has helped the state perform its duty and has spent money, then the state should pay for it. There is nothing wrong in the Centre demanding money,” said Sidhu.