Session cut short, Oppn cries foul

Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 20

Opposition parties cried foul, as deviating from the schedule for the budget session issued by the vidhan secretariat, the business advisory committee (BAC) of the state Assembly today decided to cut short the session and end it on February 27 instead of March 5, as intimated earlier.

The BAC today met under Speaker Kanwar Pal in his office before the beginning of the session and decided that the budget estimates for the year 2019-20 would now be presented on February 25.

Besides the Speaker, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma, Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu, Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Kiran Choudhry (all members of the committee) and Deputy Speaker Santosh Yadav, who is a special invitee to the BAC, were present.

As per the tentative schedule issued by the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat on February 17, the budget estimates were to be presented on February 26 and the session was to last till March 5. In the schedule decided by the BAC today, the House will have double sittings on February 22 and 26 and single sittings on the rest of the days.

Normally, the House begins on Mondays in the afternoon to give MLAs time to reach Chandigarh from their respective districts after weekends; the BAC today decided that the session will begin at 11 am on February 25, the day of presentation of the budget.

Flaying the shortening of the session, Abhay alleged that the BJP government was afraid of facing the Opposition.

“Our MLAs had listed 11 calling attention motions, but all have been rejected. The Speaker told us to utilise the time slot for discussion on the Budget or Governor’s address for raising issues listed in the calling attention motion. But how can we raise the issue of employees’ unrest in the budget discussion? If we do so, we will be told that we are deviating from the issue. I wanted the session to last till March 5, but the ruling party members were against this,” Abhay alleged.

Kiran Choudhry alleged that the government was running away from discussion in the Assembly. “Our MLAs had prepared well to corner the government on farmers’ issues and other concerns about the common people, but the government has found a new way to avoid facing the Opposition by cutting short the session,” she added.

Health Minister Anil Vij, however, defended the government and said the business of the House was always conducted as per the schedule decided by the BAC in its meeting before the start of the session.

He questioned the objections by Chautala and Choudhry and said they were also part of the BAC meeting.

Obituary references passed

Obituary references were passed on Wednesday to pay tributes to those who died after the previous Assembly session. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar among others read out obituary references. Former Union Minister George Fernandes, MLA Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, former ministers Sita Ram Singla and  Ved Singh Malik, freedom fighters Bhagmal Yadav, Juglal Arya and Bhale Ram and 13 martyrs who sacrificed their life for the country were paid homage.

Disappointed, says Abhay Chautala

"Our MLAs had listed 11 calling attention motions, but all have been rejected. The Speaker told us to utilise the time slot for discussion on the budget for raising issues. But how can we raise the issue of employees’ unrest in the budget discussion? I wanted the session to last till March 5." — Abhay Chautala, Leader of Opposition