Cong takes on Akalis over Panthic issues

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 21

The Congress on Wednesday cornered the SAD on Panthic issues, including incidents of sacrilege in 2015 and its “failure” to effectively raise the issue of withdrawing GST on langar purchases at the Golden Temple.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh announced in the House that the state government would forego its share of GST (50 per cent) on langar purchases.

A resolution was passed unanimously to seek a similar waiver from the Centre. The state extended the waiver on GST to the Durgiana Mandir and Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal.

Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said it was the BJP-dominated GST Council that had thrice rejected the state government’s proposal on waiver. “For a party that claims control over the Panth, you (SAD) should break your alliance with the BJP on this issue and recall your party’s minister from the NDA government,” he said. The move to refund the state’s share of GST on langar found support from the AAP MLAs too.

Congress MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and AAP legislators Sukhpal Khaira and Kultar Singh Sandhwan targeted the Akali Dal over the sacrilege cases and then Akali-BJP government’s “refusal” to share CCTV footage of the Bargari incident with the Justice Zora Singh Commission. “You had something to hide. That’s why the FIR regarding the firing incident was registered against ‘unidentified cops’,” said Sandhwan.

Randhawa also accused the SAD of appointing “puppets and tankhaiye” as the SGPC president. He said gangsters fled from jails earlier, but the Congress arrested them. He also raised the issue of fake FIRs registered against Congress workers when the Akalis were in power. Business interests of the Badals were also raised by him. Khaira exhorted the CM to act against the Akalis.

Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, former CM Parkash Singh Badal and former minister Bikram Majithia were not present when these events unfolded.

Earlier, during Question Hour, Akali MLAs led by Sukhbir came dressed in black robes, raising slogans demanding complete loan waiver for farmers. The pandemonium towards the fag-end of Question Hour led to the adjournment of the House for 30 minutes. Badal, too, stepped into the well of the House as the coalition MLAs raised slogans on farmers’ issues. But the Badal duo and Majithia did not return to the House later. This left 14-odd SAD-BJP MLAs in a tight spot after the House proceedings resumed and Randhawa led the discussion. They came up with feeble replies to Randhawa’s charges pertaining to the alliance’s 10-year rule. In the evening session, they raised issues of farmers and Dalits.

SIDELIGHTS

SGPC asks Centre to follow suit on GST

Amritsar: SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal on Wednesday thanked the state government for deciding to forego its share (50 per cent) of GST levied on purchases for langar at the Golden Temple. He urged the Centre and the GST Council to follow suit. He said the community kitchen of all gurdwaras should be made GST-free. Purchases for the shrine's kitchen, which feeds 55,000 to 60,000 devotees daily, comes out to be around Rs 40 crore annually. The annual GST bill is about Rs 2 crore. "I am grateful to the CM for waiving the state share of GST. Now, this burden will be reduced to half. However, the Centre needs to do its job too," he said. TNS

Sukhbir: Guv lauded SAD-BJP’s work

Chandigarh: Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal claimed on Wednesday that it was the first time in Punjab's history that an incumbent government had recognised the work of its predecessor. Addressing the media, he said every achievement listed in the Governor's Address was authored by then SAD-BJP government. "I am thankful to the CM for this endorsement of the policies, programmes, decisions and achievements of the SAD-BJP during its 10-year rule," he added. TNS

All probe reports to be tabled soon

Chandigarh: The government will table the reports of various commissions set up by it in the Vidhan Sabha, the Chief Minister said on Wednesday. He was replying to a query by Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Khaira. The CM later said while the Narang Commission (probing illegal sand mining) report was ready to be presented in the House during the current session, the reports of the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission (sacrilege cases) and Justice Mehtab Singh Commission (fake cases) would be tabled once they were finalised. TNS

Manpreet told to drop ‘infamous’ surname 

As Congress MLA Sukhjinder Randhawa listed what he referred to as the misdeeds of the Badals, he exhorted Manpreet Badal to drop the Badal surname, as it had become “badnam”. “You could use Dhillon or Azad instead,” Randhawa advised as the Treasury benches broke into laughter.

Who consumed Chandigarh liquor? 

As Akali Dal MLA Parminder Singh Dhindsa sought a debate on the farmers’ issues, he faced jibes from the Treasury benches. “Tussi Assembly da gherao tan kar nahin sake, par lagda Akaliyan ne Chandigarh de thekeyan da gherao kita si. Sari sharab mukk gayi Chandigarh vich,” they said.

‘Bunty Babli’ vs ‘Atro Chatro’

Bikram Majithia refers to the Sidhu couple as “Bunty and Babli”, ever since they spoke about the STF report. On this, Sukhjinder Randhawa called Majithia and Sukhbir “Atro and Chatro”. “On my children’s wedding, I will call Atro (referring to Sukhbir) to play dhol like he did at a recent rally,” he said.