From Akali blues to festive hues in new House As an opposition, AAP-LIP SAD DEMANDS DETAILS OF LOAN demands office in assembly WAIVER PLAN
The joy on Day 1 was marked by warm hugs, handshakes, and the unmistakable festive colours of the ‘pagris’ sported by Sikh assembly members
CHANDIGARH: From an assembly awash with the Akali blue for 10 long years, the 15th Vidhan Sabha on Friday sprang up with all festive hues as the ‘Congress 77’ settled themselves on the treasury benches. Many dressed in spotless white kurtapyjama, the joy was marked by warm hugs, handshakes, and the unmistakable festive colours of the ‘pagris’ sported by the Sikh members.
Congress MLAs have long given up the tradition of wearing white ‘pagris’ and on Friday they had chosen more “sacred” colours for their headgear. Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh wore a beige ‘pagri’, a shift from his favourite light pink or light blue. There were others who completed the palette — Sukhjinder Randhawa chose light peach, Rana Gurmeet Sodhi chose bright pink, Pargat Singh donned dark purple and Balbir Sidhu chose magenta. Charanjit Channi sported a red ‘pagri’ and some even wore orange.
Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu dressed to the tee in a suit, wore a rust shirt with a matching ‘pagri’. Manpreet Badal wore his blue blazer today (he is mostly seen in either a white one or a school uniform blue) over his shirt-pant combination sporting a white ‘pagri’. The most colourful of Congressmen, Rana Gurjeet Singh, was dressed as expected, white kurta-pyjama,
yellow jacket and purple ‘pagri’.
Most of the youngsters had chosen to don kurta-pyjama, giving the true politician look but some wanted to look more fashionable. Amrinder Singh Raja Warring looked strapping in a blue blazer-shirt-pant combination, and newbie AAP MLA from Barnala Meet Hayer following suit.
Most of the Sikh Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs chose to wear ‘Basanti’ (bright yellow) turbans, the party’s campaign colour, symbolic of revolution, with Sunam MLA Aman Arora having found a jacket of the
same colour. Leader of opposition, HS Phoolka, stuck to his usual blue. Most of the Akali MLAs too stuck to blue or black (two of three colours emblematic of Sikhism), only Parminder Dhindsa wearing his favourite light yellow.
Acutely missing from the new assembly was the glam quotient visible in the last House, thanks to its women members. Ministers Aruna Chaudhry and Razia Sultana wore subtle shades of white and beige, not wanting to stand out, lending a graceful tinge to the treasury benches. All six women MLAs kept their heads covered with ‘dupattas’.
UNUSUAL BONHOMIE, HUMILITY MARKS DAY Lok Insaaf Party’s Simarjeet Singh Bains, allied with the Aam Aadmi Party, shared a warm hug with Navjot Sidhu Sidhu, reliving the bonhomie of the Awaaz-e-Punjab days before the group split to support different parties.
Bikram Singh Majithia, the Congress’ and AAP’s bugbear, shook hands with chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and leader of opposition HS Phoolka after taking oath. Many legislators also bent to touch the floor of the House on their way to taking oath. CHANDIGARH: On the opening day of the first session of the 15th Vidhan Sabha, leader of opposition and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Dakha HS Phoolka said his party and the coalition partner Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) should be given a separate office in the assembly.
“What we have got now is not as per our strength,” he said while entering the Vidhan Sabha before taking oath as an MLA. Chief whip Sukhpal Singh Khaira suggested that the AAP be allotted the office currently in possession of the Congress which was allotted to it in the previous term when it was in the opposition.
“The AAP-LIP alliance has won 22 seats in the assembly elections and we have four MLAs more than Akali-BJP (18) alliance,” said Khaira, adding the matter was brought to the notice of pro tem speaker who assured to do the needful.
Khaira said according the current plan, LIP MLAs Simarjeet Singh Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains have been allotted seats across to that allotted to Akali MLAs. They should be given seats in front ahead of the Akali and BJP legislators. “In case our demands are not met, we will be forced to stage a protest,” he said.
AAP legislators
also announced that they would not surrender their privileges. “The Constitution gives MLAs privileges and perks to serve the people which could not be refused, we would take what we are entitled to,” said AAP MLA Kanwar Sandhu, adding his party supports austerity.
Phoolka said his party would continuously watch the functioning of the Congress. “We would keep a track of the promises made and the timeframe given by the Congress in their elections manifesto, particularly on the issues of checking drugs menace,” said Phoolka.
In the business advisory committee meeting of the Vidhan Sabha, Phoolka objected to shifting of debate on the governor address to the next session to be held in May. The pro tem speaker said it was the precedence and he wanted to give three days for debate on the governor address which was not possible in the current session. CHANDIGARH: On the day first assembly session of the 15th Vidhan Sabha began, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in a statement asked Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh to give details of the time-bound process for waiver of all farm loans, as promised before the assembly polls.
“We, along with all Punjabi farmers, are eagerly waiting for the complete waiver of all farm loans as promised by you. You had promised to waive the loans, not the government of India. Lakhs of farmers have even filled forms at your instance. Now, they are waiting for you to deliver on your promise,” SAD leaders, including Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Balwinder Singh Bhundur, said in a statement here on Friday.
They said it was unfortunate that Capt Amarinder is “politicising” the issue, instead of taking decisive action as promised. “Please don’t try to backtrack on this issue and try not to shift the onus on the Centre for waiving off the debt of state farmers. If you do so, it will be presumed that you have deceived farmers,” they said. They said Amarinder had come out with a statement stating that a timebound process had been initiated to waive off farmers loans.