Series of walkouts, adjournments mar Day 2

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 11

The last day of the present Punjab Vidhan Sabha saw acrimonious scenes with five walkouts by Opposition parties, exchange of barbs and MLAs nearly coming to blows resulting in four House adjournments to ensure things didn’t stoop to abysmally low levels.

On the day rules for anti-defection were tabled in the special session, in a scripted manner, another MLA from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) switched sides and crossed the floor towards the Treasury benches. Raikot MLA Jagtar Singh Jagga Hissowal, who had returned to the party fold after rebelling in 2018, proclaimed in the House he was happy to see a common man rising to be the Chief Minister (referring to Channi) and accepted him “as his CM”, leaving the AAP MLAs stunned.

As CM Charanjit Singh Channi asked the House if they realised how a common man had risen from the ranks to be the CM, Jagga switched sides. This drew a sharp reaction from AAP MLA Aman Arora, who demanded to know how the Congress and Speaker could allow such blatant defection. With this, the strength of AAP MLAs in the House gone down to 11, besides Kanwar Sandhu, who continues to be a rebel and four others who have joined the Congress. Rupinder Kaur Ruby had joined the Congress yesterday. Interestingly, the SAD MLAs were also named by Speaker Rana KP Singh after their heated exchanges with CM Channi. During the discussion on the two Bills related to farm laws, the CM pointing towards Majithia accused him of being involved with “bad elements”. To this, Akali MLAs rose and rushed towards the CM’s seat, speaking about his previous scandal. The Congress MLAs, too, rushed to Channi’s rescue. As heated exchanges continued between the two sides, the Speaker adjourned the House. With things continuing to worsen, and senior minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Akali MLA Gurpartap Singh Wadala unsuccessfully trying to restore peace, the House was adjourned twice more. The Speaker then summoned the Akali MLAs to his chamber and tried to broker peace. But as soon as the proceedings resumed, the Akalis demanded an apology. The Speaker said the objectionable contents of the CM’s speech had been expunged, but the Akali MLAs refused to relent. They were then named by the Speaker, and could not attend the subsequent proceedings.

The session began with an official resolution being brought in by the Deputy CM to extend the area under BSF control. Since the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said all other rules of the House with regards to holding a zero and question hours could be set aside, both AAP and Akali MLAs protested and staged a walkout.