Chandigarh, March 15
After a gap of five years, which saw a lot of tension and enmity between the Congress and the SAD in the Punjab Assembly, it was a different day today in the house.

While the BJP made an all-out effort to project its Punjabi identity in the house, there was an atmosphere of bonhomie between the ruling SAD-BJP combine and the Congress.

The way the treasury and opposition benches exchanged friendly banter, it appeared that the fierce hostility between Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is over, at least for now. During the past five years, the Congress was on the treasury benches. However, now, after the defeat in the assembly elections, the party has shifted to the opposition benches.

First, the BJP’s new-found love for Punjabi. Except three, all other BJP MLAs took the oath in Punjabi. Many of them were fluent in Punjabi and almost flawless as far as reading of the oath text in Punjabi was concerned. BJP MLA from Batala Jagdish Sawhney took the oath in English. Party MLA from Amritsar Central Laxmi Kanta Chawla took the oath in Sankrit and Master Mohan Lal from Pathankot in Hindi.

Manoranjan Kalia, BJP MLA from Jalandhar and number two in the Badal cabinet, took the oath in Punjabi. So did Tikshan Sood and Swarna Ram. The BJP MLAs who took the oath in Punjabi were Sita Ram, Anil Joshi, Chuni Lal Bhagat, Amarjit Shahi, Harish Bedi, Sat Pal Gosain, Raj Khurana, Surjit Kumar Jiani, Sukhpal Singh, Arunesh Kumar, K.D. Bhandar and Dinesh Singh.

In fact, by taking the oath in Punjabi, the BJP has sent a clear political message. From urban areas, it wants to expand its base to the rural areas. And for getting the foothold in the rural belt, the projection of the Punjabi identity is a must. There were days when BJP MLAs and leaders preferred to talk in Hindi. But it is no more so as was clear from the stance taken by the BJP MLAs while taking the oath as members of the house.

As far as the light and relaxed atmosphere in the house was concerned, Badal set the tone for it. At the time of the oath taking of Amarinder Singh, Badal, who was apparently in a playful mood, asked Bhattal, who was sitting just opposite to him on the bench earmarked for the leader of opposition, why she did not thump the desk. “ I have thumped the desk with both hands”, said Bhattal. “ No, no you did not,” said Badal. And this led to loud laughter in the house. Even Amarinder Singh had a hearty laugh.

And when Raj Khurana rose to take the oath, it was Bhattal to take a potshot at Badal. “ You did not make him( Khurana) minister; it is injustice to him”, said Bhattal to Badal. “ You did not telephone me in this regard. If you had asked, I would have made him minister”, Badal replied amid laughter to Bhattal. “ I will call you on the phone and you give Khurana the seat occupied by you”, quipped Bhattal. Khurana was earlier in the Congress and was a camp follower of Bhattal. However, because of his differences with Amarinder Singh, he quit the party and joined the BJP.

As Harminder Singh Jassi, Congress MLA from Bathinda, got up to take the oath, Badal, pointing towards the Congress MLAs, said : “ You are all in the house because of this person (Jassi). Thank him for being kind to you”. It led to friendly repartee between the treasury and opposition benches. Harminder Singh, who is related to the head of Dera Sacha Sauda, had played a vital role in securing the support of followers of the dera for the Congress that almost wiped out the Akalis in the Sangrur-Mansa-Bathinda-Faridkot belt.

Before going for oath taking, Congress MLA Razia met Badal and whispered something. Immediately after entering the house, finance minister Manpreet Badal shook hands with all those sitting in the front row of the opposition benches, including Amarinder Singh. PWD minister Parminder Dhindsa also did the same and paid respects to Amarinder Singh and others on the opposition benches in true Punjabi style.

As Badal came into the house, he greeted the treasury benches with folded hands and Amarinder Singh and Bhattal responded in equal measure.