NEW MLAS LACK EXPERIENCE, NEED TRAINING, SAYS SPEAKER

RUPNAGAR: Punjab assembly speaker Rana KP Singh has said that new members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) lack experience of participating in the proceedings of the House.

Talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday, Rana KP Singh said that it was natural that first-time MLAs have no knowledge about the functioning of the assembly and it was the duty of all political parties to make them aware of how to act in the assembly. He said training programmes would be organised for new MLAs by the assembly.

His comments come in the backdrop of the opposition — SAD-BJP and AAP — accusing him of bias after he ordered suspension of AAP MLAs who were later injured in a scuffle with the assembly ward-and-watch staff while being removed from the House.

Earlier,addressing a public meeting organised by former district Congress committee president Amarjit Singh Saini in his honour, he said that Punjab,which was once a leading state of the country, was passing through a critical phase and it was the duty of all the Punjabis to make sincere efforts to put it back on tracks.

Rana said that he would perform his duty as speaker sincerely and work for Rupnagar and Anandpur Sahib along with other parts of the state.

Besides Amarjit Singh Saini, former MLAs Bhag Singh and Shamsher Singh Rai,district Congress president Vijay Sharma Tinku, state unit general secretary Sukhwinder Singh Whisky, and party leaders Gurinder Pal Singh Billa, Ramesh Goyal, SAD leaders Amarjit Singh Satyal and Amarjit Singh Walia also spoke on the occasion.