ASSEMBLY IN SESSION - Cong confronts govt, stages walkout twice

Tuesday, 22/03/2016

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/cong-confronts-govt-stages-walkout-twice/212105.html

Chandigarh : Congress MLAs valiantly attempted to take on the Akali-BJP government in the House today, but the effort seemed restricted to the period during which Punjab party unit president Capt Amarinder Singh, who had earlier in the day given them a pep talk, was present on the Vidhan Sabha premises.

The Opposition party, in nearly full attendance in the House after a whip was issued, forced an adjournment and staged a walkout twice – once over Leader of the Opposition Charanjit Singh Channi not being allowed to speak. 

The Congress MLAs had started slipping out of the House after Zero Hour. By the time the Bills to be cleared by the Vidhan Sabha came up for discussion, there were just two of them in the House — Tarlochan Singh Soond and Ashwani Sekhri. Later, Channi and Bharat Bhushan Ashu joined them. 

Right at the start of Zero Hour today, Channi addressed the Speaker and accused top Akali leaders of conflict of interest and financial irregularities. As Speaker Dr Charanjit Singh Atwal advised him not to launch personal attacks, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal said Channi was showing his frustration now as he could not tolerate his humiliation in the House on Friday. 

All Congress MLAs had brought booklets highlighting achievements of the party’s government in Punjab between 2002-07. With tempers rising, Congress MLA Kuljit Nagra flung copies of these booklets from his seat towards the treasury benches — which was objected to both by the Speaker and Akali-BJP MLAs. It was then that Congress legislator Guriqbal Kaur went towards the other side and kept the booklets on each table on the treasury benches. 

As ruling party MLAs, led by Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, mocked the Congress for throwing booklets with photos of their senior leaders at the Akalis’ feet, all Congress MLAs got up from the seats amid pandemonium, leading to the House being adjourned for 18 minutes. 

As the House resumed, Channi wanted to speak, but the Speaker disallowed him. Some senior leaders such as Sunil Jakhar asked the Speaker to allow Channi to speak, but in vain. As Congress legislators raised objections, Akali MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu raised the issue of the Jat reservation stir in Haryana and accused the Congress there of instigating protesters and causing harm to life and property of Punjabis in Haryana. This was objected to by Congress MLAs, who staged a walkout. 

The third time Channi got up to speak, during the discussion on allowing supplementary grants, he raised the issues of Punjab’s unproductive debt of Rs 2.27 lakh crore; the government buying more and more power from outside sources; and the loans raised by the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board. As Akali MLA Virsa Singh Valtoha got into an argument with him, the Congress again staged a walkout.