SYL rocks Vidhan Sabha, Congress stages walkout
Thursday, 17/03/2016
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CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Congress staged a noisy walkout from the Vidhan Sabha yet again on Wednesday after speaker Cha ranj it Singh Atwal stopped state Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Charanjit Singh Channi in his attempt to give a new spin to the bill on the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.
The trouble began at the start of the zero hour, after Channi raised the issue of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s not handing over the bill to governor Kaptan Singh Solanki when it took an all party delegation to him.
The speaker told the state CLP leader that there was a procedure to be followed and the bill had been sent duly to Raj Bhawan on Tuesday evening. Channi and some other Congress legislators, however, marched into the well of the House, raising slogans.
As they refused to go back to their benches, Atwal adjourned the house for 47 minutes. He noted that the matter Channi had raised was “procedural” and he could not allow the opposition to speak on it. Batala Congress MLA Ashwani Sekhri, who didn’t follow his partymen into the well, joined the protest on the request of colleagues Rana Gurjit Singh (Kapurthala) and Balbir Singh Sidhu (SAS Nagar).
The division within the CLP was visible inside the House when Channi was trying to retrieve the lost ground on the SYL.
As the House reassembled, Channi was again on his feet, asking the speaker why the CM, who had led a delegation to the governor on Tuesday, not carried a copy of the bill along. Later, the Congress members walked out of the House and did not return.
Manoranjan Kalia of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pointed out that the opposition wanted to create a law-andorder problem in the state. Parliamentary affairs minister Madan Mohan Mittal said the Congress was under the direction of its senior leaders to disrupt the proceedings of Parliament and state assemblies.
