Budget session starts with Cong walkout
Wednesday, 09/03/2016
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Opposition had reached the Vidhan Sabha wearing black bands and flags in hands
Chandigarh : The last budget session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in the current government on Tuesday began with a walkout by Opposition Congress legislators.
The day otherwise witnessed Punjab governor Kaptan Singh Solanki’s address in which he not only hailed the state government’s pro-people initiatives but also touched upon various sensitive issues. Wearing black bands and holding black flags in hands, nearly 20 Congress MLAs led by the CLP leader Charanjit Singh Channi, as per their pre-announced strategy, began a march from the high court chowk, roughly half a kilometer from the Vidhan Sabha at about 9 am.
The Congress MLAs held the protest march to the Vidhan Sabha against the Centre’s stand favouring construction of the SYL canal during the Supreme Court hearing on the presidential reference to the Punjab Termination of River Waters Act.
On being intercepted at the outer gate of Vidhan Sabha (near parking), Gidderbaha MLA Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and CLP leader Charanjit Singh Channi scaled the barbed wire fence to open the gate for making entry of their party colleagues. Subsequently, they had to use some force to push aside the police personnel stopping them to enter for them all holding black flags and raising slogans against the state government. Then, they all reaching at the lobby of the Vidhan Sabha blocked the main entry point and stopped MLAs of ruling party including the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal from entering the house. As the Congress legislators rued that the police used force to check their entry in the Vidhan Sabha, also mentioning that the female MLAs were thrashed by the male cops, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal pacified them and urged them to allow other MLAs to enter.
Eventually, the SAD-BJP MLAs were allowed to enter but it all made the occurrence of five-minute delay in the governor’s address.
Justifying the walkout, Channi said that they opted for it in protest against the speech of the Governor of Punjab. “We met the Governor on the issues of farmers suicide and atrocities on Dalits, submitted a memorandum also but nothing was done by the Governor. The Governor address is the replica of the last year speech in which most of the content remains unfulfilled till now,” he mentioned.
Speaking about the protest march on SYL issue, the CLP leader said: “We demonstrated against the government for its inability to speak up against the Centre’s move of filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court favoring early completion of SYL canal - a move which will give more water to the neighbouring state of Haryana.”
SAD-BJP decides topics for MLAs
Chandigarh : Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday held a joint meeting in the Vidhan Sabha meeting room but against the speculation, the leaders didn’t even touch upon the issues of conflict within the alliance.
The MLAs coming out of the meeting told Daily Post that the meeting was all focused on the budget session. Besides allocating the subjects to the alliance legislators, it was decided that the SYL issue, which the Congress is all set to raise with full energy, the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will himself counter it.
The fifth time CM has vast knowledge on the subject and his words carry weight much more than anyone else, shared an MLA privy to meeting discussion.
Cong moves notice of breach of privilege
The Punjab congress have a notice of breach of privilege against the deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for the alleged misbehavior and manhandling of the congress legislatures at the entry gate of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha by the Punjab police. He alleged that the legislators were prevented from entering the assembly which, as they claimed, was clearly the privilege of the elected representatives.
Congress is united, aggressive: Channi
Chandigarh: Punjab Congress seems as if pledged to take on the ruling benches with an unprecedented aggression in the Vidhan Sabha this time.
After staging demonstration on Tuesday, the party is again expected to get its annoyance registered for the second consecutive day (Wednesday), which is reserved for obituary references.
Speaking to Daily Post, the CLP leader Charanjit Singh Channi said the Congress wanted the see the names of farmers who committed suicide in the state and also the name of Bhim Sain tank, a Dalit youth who was brutally murdered in Abohar few months back, among the list of those departed souls to whom the house would pay tributes on Wednesday.
“We have already submitted a list of those innocent people who have been crushed to death by the buses of transport companies belonging to the ruling party leaders,” shared Channi, mentioning that the two Sikhs lost lives in police firing at Behbal Kalan village of Faridkot in the Guru Granth Sahib sacrilege episode.
Going ahead, Channi said that the Congress would also demand the inclusion of the names of those innocent (Punjabi) people who died in Haryana Jat quota stir, terming the killings in the neighbouring state to be the replication of “massacre” in Gujarat.
“This time we are aggressive as well as united,” he said.
