AAP walks out as bill on conflict of interest rejected
BILL PROPOSED ANY MLA TO BE UNSEATED WITHIN SIX MONTHS IF FOUND GUILTY OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST
CHANDIGARH: Legislators of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday staged a walkout of the Punjab assembly to protest against the rejection of a private member bill against conflict of interest.
Party MLA Aman Arora had submitted “The Punjab Unseating of Members of Legislative Assembly Found Indulging in Conflict of Interest Bill 2018” for tabling it in the House, but Vidhan Sabha speaker Rana KP Singh rejected it.
“Under the proposed bill, any elected representative, be it the chief minister, ministers or MLAS, shall be liable for disqualification, hence unseated, within a period of six months, if found guilty of conflict of interest for furthering his own private interest, financial or commercial, directly or indirectly, at the cost of interest of the state,” he told reporters later.
The AAP members led by Arora first rushed to well of the House, raising slogans to register their protest. When the speaker did not pay attention, they walked out of the House.
During the zero hour earlier, leader of opposition Sukhpal Khaira said the state government was about to refund the earnest money amount of ₹29 crore to controversial bidders in the sand mining auction scam. “This also included ₹5 crore of a contractor, Gurinder Singh, involved in the irrigation scam. The government should forfeit this entire amount,” he said, demanding a statement from the chief minister.
In response, the chief minister said the AAP leader was misleading the House to get media attention.
“Investigations into the illegal mining case were on and the House would be informed once the findings come in. Similarly, the probe into the irrigation scam is also in progress,” he said.
Khaira and former minister Rana Gurjit Singh, who had to quit the Amarinder cabinet after his name cropped in the sand mine controversy, also had a spat.
However, most of it was expunged by the speaker.