Cong MLA Dalal faces privilege motion

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 29

The BJP and Congress members today took on each other during a discussion on the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) with the Treasury Benches threatening a privilege motion against Congress MLA Karan Dalal for his allegations against the Cabinet.

The discussion, which was punctuated by two walkouts — one by the Congress and the other by the INLD — saw acrimonious scenes between the BJP and the Opposition — the INLD and Congress.

As soon as Dalal, who was participating in the discussion on the calling attention motion moved by Kiran Choudhry (Congress) and Abhay Chautala (INLD), made certain remarks against the ministers, minister Anil Vij, OP Dhankar and Capt Abhimanyu, and chief whip Gian Chand Gupta were on their feet, demanding an apology from Dalal for his “serious allegations”.

They also threatened to move a privilege motion against the Congress member.

Dalal supported by other Congress members, and BJP members indulged in allegations and counter-allegations. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar intervened; he said Dalal should either give evidence in support of his allegation or be ready to face privilege motion.

Putting up a brave front, Dalal said he was ready to face privilege motion and would submit evidence in support of his remarks.

Deputy Speaker Santosh Yadav who was in the Chair, later expunged the remarks, asking Dalal to apologise for his allegations.

With BJP and Congress members on their feet, Vij and Dalal called each other names, forcing Speaker Kanwar Pal Gujjar to intervene. Ultimately, Dalal submitted a written reply to the Speaker on which he reserved his ruling.

Hooda-Abhimanyu duel

Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu indulged in a verbal duel during the discussion, accusing each other of doing nothing for the welfare of farmers.

Khattar said farmers covered under the crop insurance scheme will get enhanced compensation ranging between Rs10,000 and Rs25,000 per acre for crop damage as against the prescribed rates fixed between Rs7,500 and Rs12,000.

The Chief Minister said 30 per cent of farmers opted for the insurance scheme in its first year of launch. “We will try to bring all farmers under the ambit of the scheme in the coming season, as it will be in their larger interest.”

Khattar clarified farmers who had not yet been covered under the PMFBY would be provided with compensation ranging between Rs7,500 and Rs12,000 on account of crop damage.

Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar said the scheme replaced the Modified National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) and National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS). A notification in this regard was on June 17.

He said the scheme covered paddy, bajra, maize and cotton in the kharif 2016 season, and wheat, mustard, gram and barley in the rabi 2016-17 season. “The crop insurance scheme is being implemented on a large scale for the first time. It has been decided by the government to start its implementation in respect of traditional crops for which the historical data of actual yields is available so that the assessment of claims is feasible. Based on the experience gained from its implementation, more crops can be covered in the coming years,” Dhankar added.

Mewat incident echoes in House 

The INLD and the Congress vociferously raised the double-murder and rape incident of Mewat in which five armed men barged into a house in Dingerheri village, beat a couple to death, and gangraped their two nieces. Nuh MLA Zakir Hussain minced no words in castigating the BJP government for a delayed response. “For four days, no arrests were made. Nobody acted under the influence of a union minister,” he alleged. When BJP MLA Vedpal tried to justify the situation and explain that the police reached the spot the very next morning, he was silenced by the Opposition. The MLAs sought to know in what capacity the MLA was giving a statement. “Don’t tell us what went on. If you really want to know, we will tell you what happened there,” Hussain said.

Report on Jat stir to be presented 

On a demand by Leader of the Opposition Abhay Chautala, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said a detailed report would be presented on the need to hand over the investigation of violence that followed the Jat agitation to the CBI.