Lost ‘trust’, Cong mocks at govt

Thursday, 15/09/2016

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/lost-trust--cong-mocks-at-govt/295422.html

Chandigarh : It was perhaps the perfect setting that the Opposition Congress could have sought for an uninterrupted debate on the no-confidence motion against the SAD-BJP government, for which the party MLAs had been practising for days.

The Opposition benches did play to win the final match on the concluding day of the monsoon session, but the pitch was not the floor of the House. It was the lobby area of the Vidhan Sabha where the Congress MLAs staged a “people’s assembly”, a mock session on the no-confidence motion that otherwise was defeated.

It was a session where the number of legislators on the Opposition benches outnumbered those on the treasury benches that remained on the defensive and admissive. “Speaker” Tarlochan Singh Soondh, Banga MLA, was kind enough not to expunge any remarks, irrespective of whether they were laden with adjectives or barbs against the Akalis represented by Kuljit Nagra as the “CM” who dozed off during the session. MLA Sadu Singh Dharamsot, who enacted Deputy CM, showered praises on Sunil Jakhar while advising him not to side with the Opposition benches. OP Soni, MLA from Amritsar, drew attention of the “Speaker” towards the urban issues. Even in the mock session, Sunil Jakhar took the role of main speaker along with Channi, who preferred to mark himself as the Leader of the Opposition. Describing the blue-turbaned Akali as “desi bulls” who were out to ravage the prosperity of Punjab, Jakhar described the Deputy CM as the CMD of Punjab Corporation Limited that used governance for exploitation of resources.

The session ended with the House passing the no-confidence motion by majority against the ruling party.

It was no holds barred for the young brigade which overshadowed the veterans in the Congress Legislature Party during the last day of the session today.

Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Kuljit Nagra, Charanjit Singh Channi and Gurkirat Kotli went all out against the government as they hurled paper balls and books at Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal after he refused to continue debate on no-confidence motion.

The Congress legislators tried every trick to push the SAD-BJP on the backfoot before Tarlochan Singh Soondh hurled a shoe at Bikram Majithia. Senior MLAs Lal Singh, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Sunil Jakhar and Jagmohan Singh Kang seemed upset with the shoe throwing act. Many party MLAs were seen inquiring about the veracity of the comments allegedly made by Valtoha. Jakhar later said he did not agree with the aggression but for the “undemocratic” and “dictatorial” style of functioning of the ruling party and the Speaker.

Taking credit for putting up a stormy show, the young leaders did not miss to mention in informal discussions that it was their idea to stay back in the House for two nights.

Staying put for 40 hours, they hardly looked fatigued as they led the charge on the treasury benches.