AAP plays on front foot, 'defensive' on Ajnala, law & order

Tribune News Service

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, March 7

The Aam Aadmi Party today played on the front foot in the Vidhan Sabha during the conclusion of the debate on Governor’s address amid a walkout by Opposition Congress MLAs.

CM must apologise: Bajwa

• The Congress decided to boycott the proceedings of the Vidhan Sabha until Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann apologised for ‘intimidating Congress MLAs’.
• LoP Partap Singh Bajwa said they would not participate in the proceedings of the House if Mann was present.
• “The CM did not express regret over using the unparliamentary language. We will attend the session only if he is not there. When he arrives, we will walk out,” Bajwa said

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and ministers Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer and Harjot Bains were on the offensive, targeting the Opposition MLAs over “corruption, usurping of panchayati lands, illegal mining and spreading of misinformation.” Each of them not only blamed the Congress for their “misdeeds” during the previous Congress regime, but also highlighted the achievements of their first year in rule.

Much of this was highlighted in the speech of the Chief Minister delivered after the Congress walked out of the Assembly. The only issue on which the treasury benches appeared to be on the defensive was on the issue of law and order, especially the last month’s Ajnala incident.

As state Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring attacked the government over the “deteriorating law and order situation” under the AAP rule, warning them of the rising influence of separatists, his attack was responded to first by Hayer and later by the CM.

Hayer targeted the previous governments, saying that Punjab knew what had happened in the past seven or eight years when there was a jailbreak in Nabha or gangsters seemed to flourish.

Mann was more scathing in the counter-attack, saying that while his government was in control of the situation, he wanted to know how a gangster in police custody, being brought to jail, was ambushed and killed (referring to Sukha Kahlwan, though his name was not taken). “What about those under whose regime trade of chitti goliyan was done? Or whose family honoured Gen Dyer after the Jallianwala massacre?” he said. The CM made these remarks in his concluding speech on the debate on Governor’s address when the Congress MLAs had left.

The Congress MLAs had declared yesterday that they would boycott the House when Mann entered the House. As soon as he entered the House and took his seat, Mann taunted the Congress MLAs, asking them if they had forgotten their declaration made yesterday. Initially, it appeared that the Congress MLAs were not inclined to walk out but they staged a walkout after the taunt.

However, MLA Sukhpal Khaira continued in a verbal duel with Rural Development and Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal over his allegations against two AAP Rajya Sabha members for usurping panchayat land. Khaira’s allegations were denied by the minister and the latter instead blamed the Congress MLA for occupying over 10 acres of land in his native village illegally.

Denying this, Khaira said he was willing to face an inquiry by a committee of the House, provided the committee also looked into the illegal occupation of land by the two AAP MPs.

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