Congress: By adjourning Punjab Assembly session abruptly, govt recognised it was illegal

Chandigarh, October 20

Leader of Opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa said here today that with Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan abruptly adjourning the house sine die, the state government had acknowledged that the session was illegal.

When the Speaker adjourned the house, Congress legislators neither supported it not opposed the move.

Questioning the legality of the Vidhan Sabha session after Governor Banwarilal Purohit had termed it illegal, state Congress leaders had second thoughts on attending the session. However, the party eventually decided to take part in the session “to raise important issues related to the state”.

LoP questions rationale of meeting

If the government is now planning to move the Supreme Court against the Governor’s letter in which he had termed the session illegal, why did it call the session in the first place? —Partap Singh Bajwa, Leader of opposition

Ahead of the session, PPCC chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said as the Governor had termed the session illegal, it was yet to be decided whether to be a part of it.

Later, however, the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), led by LoP Partap Singh Bajwa, decided to attend the session to raise important matters like the drug menace, rising sacrilege incidents and others.

The LoP termed the session a futile exercise and a waste of state exchequer.

Bajwa said: “If the government is now planning to move the Supreme Court against the Governor’s letter in which he had termed the session illegal, why did it call the session in the first place?”

“We didn’t boycott the session because we were expecting a fruitful discussion of the state’s issues. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is yet to give a clarification on his government’s stand on the SYL canal survey,” Bajwa added.