An ugly face-off erupted between members of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress outside the Punjab assembly on Tuesday after the opposition party members claimed that they had been stopped from entering the House.
The confrontation, which escalated tensions between the two sides on the final day of the three-day assembly session, began with a protest by the Congress members led by leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa and Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira. The Congress members, who came wearing black scarves and carried placards, accused the AAP government of denying them entry into the assembly. Members of the two parties traded accusations and jostled with each other. They also attempted to disrupt each other’s media briefings. At one point, AAP member Jasvir Singh Raja Gill and some Congress MLAs, including Bajwa, indulged in a prolonged heated exchange while another AAP legislator and former minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal was addressing the media. Dhaliwal accused Congress legislators of not letting the ruling party members speak. Later, when Congress members were addressing the media, they were confronted by Sarvjit Kaur Manuke and other ruling party legislators. When Khaira arrived with other Congress members to attend the day’s proceedings, he was not allowed entry by the security staff of the assembly. Meanwhile, as Question Hour began in the House, Bajwa came and complained to Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan that the Congress members had been stopped from entering the House. Unhappy with the Speaker’s response, Bajwa walked out, while Congress members could be heard raising slogans outside the House. A few minutes later, Dhaliwal entered the House and sought action against the Congress MLAs, alleging that they pushed him while he was entering the House. “Give it to me in writing. I will take action,” he assured the member. Congress MLA Pargat Singh, who is also the Punjab Congress president, accused the AAP government of suppressing the Opposition’s voice. “Attempts to weaken the role of the Opposition in a democracy were deeply unfortunate. Instead of allowing the Opposition to present its views, the government was attempting to silence it both inside and outside the assembly,” he claimed.
“Is this how you want to run this House?” the LoP asked the Speaker. Replying to Bajwa, Sandhwan said no member should be stopped except those against whom action had been taken. “An atmosphere of gundagardi is prevailing outside the House,” the former minister alleged. The Speaker told him that he was safe inside the assembly. Congress legislature party deputy leader Aruna Chaudhary later said that preventing members from participating in the assembly proceedings was an insult to democracy and the people who elected them and whom they represented.
Khaira had been suspended by the state assembly on Friday for the remainder of the session for allegedly using unparliamentary language against the Chair and disrupting assembly proceedings during a protest over the murder of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota.
“This is their only job. They say the session is not being convened and when the session is called, they do not attend. When they attend, they do not sit.
Reacting to the protest, chief minister Bhagwant Mann later told reporters that the Congress had made a habit of creating a ruckus and walking out. The Congress has no issues,” he said.
