BJP to stay mum on Majithia issue

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 22

Facing a political crisis, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) finds itself alone as it readies to battle a fiery Congress in the Vidhan Sabha tomorrow on the issue of Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia being summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for investigation into the synthetic drug case.

Its alliance partner, the BJP, has categorically said though it would not point a finger at the SAD, it would neither defend the Akalis when the Congress raised the issue in the House.

The BJP ministers and MLAs conveyed this to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during a joint meeting of the Akali-BJP Legislature Party here held after the obituary references on the first day of the Vidhan Sabha session.

The BJP leaders reportedly said they would prefer to remain silent on the issuewhen the Congress raised the matter in the Assembly tomorrow.

The meeting reportedly began with the Chief Minister asking MLAs of the two parties not to make any divergent statements with regard to the summoning of the Revenue Minister.

He exhorted the MLAs of both the parties to remain united. “The stand of both parties should be the same,” he is learnt to have told the legislators.

The BJP leaders said they would have to discuss the matter with their state party president, but would neither defend nor join the Opposition in opposing the government on the issue.

Publicly, the BJP ministers said they were not in favour of seeking Majithia’s resignation. All ministers—Chunni Lal Bhagat, Madan Mohan Mittal, Surjit Kumar Jyani and Anil Joshi—separately told The Tribune though Majithia had been summoned, it did not prove that he was involved in the drug racket.

“Many people are summoned by the ED, and are later found not guilty. We cannot ask a minister to resign just because he has been summoned by the ED,” each of them said.

The joint meeting was held after the first sitting of the Vidhan Sabha, where members paid tribute to eminent personalities and members of the House who passed away recently. The members paid respects to former MLAs Jagdev Singh Jassowal, Jagdev Singh Talwandi, Gurcharan Singh Galib, Chaudhary Gurmail Singh and 132 children killed in Peshawar in a terrorist attack.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia, Transport Minister Ajit Singh Kohar, Rural Development Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka and PWD Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon were not present in the House.

Newly elected MLA from Patiala Preneet Kaur made her debut in the House, while MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu moved from the Opposition camp to the Treasury Benches on being re-elected as an Akali MLA earlier this year.

On the sidelines

Clad in a pink salwaar-kameez, it was Patiala MLA Preneet Kaur’s first day in the House

She was greeted by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal after the session had ended

She was asked to furnish her PAN/TAN number by Punjab Vidhan Sabha officials

She sat on the seat once occupied by her husband Capt Amarinder Singh

Fearing that the Opposition members might wave black flags in the House, all members were screened

Carrying coins inside the House was not allowed, for fear that these could be hurled by members at each other