Punjab Speaker 'biased, puppet in hands of AAP govt', says Phillaur MLA

Jalandhar, March 22

The Budget Session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha resumed on a stormy note today as members of the principal opposition party walked out of the Assembly after their adjournment motion on law and order situation in the state was disallowed. The question hour saw aggressive sloganeering by the Congress MLAs against Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary today termed Kultar Singh Sandhwan “a puppet in hands of the AAP government”.

Terming the Vidhan Sabha Speaker ‘biased and partial’, Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary said the office of the Speaker deserved utmost respect from every member of the Assembly, but Sandhwan had become a puppet in the hands of the AAP government and had lowered the dignity of the chair.

He said the Speaker should be neutral, but here he was working on the orders of the government, adding that nobody was being allowed to raise the question against the government and the voice of the opposition was being suppressed.

He said it was regrettable that during the sitting of the Vidhan

Sabha, Kultar Singh Sandhwan did not accept the opposition’s demand to raise the burning issues of Punjab and gave them no time to speak.

“We will not let the AAP government’s efforts to suppress the voice of the people of Punjab succeed and will continue to raise the voice of Punjabis both in the Vidhan Sabha and on the streets,” he said.

Chaudhary said: “It is not Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, but AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal’s handpicked people brought from Delhi such as Aniket Saxena, who are running the affairs in Vidhan Sabha. It appears

that Speaker Sandhwan has no independent authority and is working under the thumb of the government. By his outright biased conduct, he has not only lowered the dignity of his chair, but also brought disrepute to the entire House.”

‘Voice of opposition being suppressed’

Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary said the Speaker should be neutral, but here he was working on the orders of the government, adding that nobody was being allowed to raise the question against the government and the voice of the opposition was being suppressed.