Chandigarh, May 1 (PTI): The BJP’s Punjab unit on Friday held a mock assembly session, with “no-confidence” motion being passed against the Bhagwant Mann government.
During the mock session that was organised when the Mann government convened a special one-day session of the Assembly, the BJP leaders took on the AAP government, alleging it has failed on all fronts.
Claiming that the Mann government does not permit the opposition to raise issues in the Assembly, the BJP leaders said they decided to hold the “Janta Ki Vidhan Sabha” (mock session).
In the mock session near the Punjab BJP office here, senior party leaders, including state BJP president Sunil Jakhar and working president Ashwani Sharma, were present.
During the mock session — which was presided over by Atwal, 89, a former Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha — a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government was also passed, with members raising the slogan, “Punjabi Kare Pukaar, Satta Chhade, Maan Sarkaar.” Before the session began, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh charged that the Mann government has failed on all fronts and various mafia were calling the shots.
Notably, in the Punjab Assembly on Friday, the confidence motion moved by the Bhagwant Mann government was unanimously passed, and AAP MLAs reaffirmed that they “stand like loyal soldiers” of the party. The opposition MLAs were not present in the Assembly when the motion was passed.
The two BJP MLAs in the 117-member state Assembly did not attend Friday’s special session. Earlier this week, the Punjab cabinet had summoned a special one-day session of the state Assembly on the occasion of Labour Day on May 1.
The development to summon the session came days after the ruling AAP’s seven Rajya Sabha MPs, six of them from Punjab, quit the party and joined the BJP.
At the BJP event, presenting the motion in the mock assembly, Punjab BJP Working President and Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma alleged that crucial issues like drugs, deaths due to drugs, gangsterism, and law and order collapse are not being debated in the Vidhan Sabha.
“AAP’s politics is built on untruth, and its promise to make Punjab drug-free has completely failed,” he added.
Targeting Arvind Kejriwal, he accused the AAP leadership of misleading people and diverting attention from real governance failures.
Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar also slammed the chief minister’s “conduct” in the Assembly, alleging that he has lowered the dignity of a constitutional office. He also alleged that Mann is “unfit” to be the chief minister.
“It is a black day in Punjab’s democratic history…the party will meet the Punjab Governor to demand that Bhagwant Mann is unfit for the position,” Jakhar said.
Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, while replying to reporters over the questions on opposition targeting Mann, said that the opposition Congress has levelled false and baseless allegations to defame the chief minister under a conspiracy.
Notably, Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, on Friday wrote to Assembly Speaker, saying that an incident that occurred on Friday during the special session of the Assembly, as raised by Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, has brought forth serious concerns “regarding the conduct of the chief minister”.
Speaking at the BJP event, Tarun Chugh said that labourers are being neglected, and workers are getting barely a fraction of promised employment, while the government fails to utilise central schemes, he said.
Vijay Sampla, who is also the former chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, alleged that “Not a single major promise made to Scheduled Castes has been fulfilled.” BJP leader Iqbal Singh Lalpura also took on the Mann government on various fronts and enlisted several initiatives undertaken by the Narendra Modi government for the Sikh community.
Rajya Sabha MP Vikramjit Singh Sahney, who was among the seven AAP MPs who joined the BJP, raised economic concerns, saying, “We are facing a paradox, unemployment on one side and lack of trained manpower on the other.” Regardless of how many MLAs support him, Mann has lost the trust of the people of Punjab, the BJP leader said.
Speaking over the special session, Jakhar said that the real objective of the assembly session, which was summoned in the name of workers, was to buy six more months for the government.
He alleged that the state is under a debt of around Rs 4.5 lakh crore, corruption has crossed all limits, and the law-and-order situation is extremely serious, while the AAP government has not moved beyond advertising.
He claimed that the people of Punjab have already judged this government and are eager to remove it.
According to him, the AAP leadership has turned Punjab into an ATM and is trying to extract as much as possible before people oust them from power. PTI SUN SHS SHS
(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)
