Covid shadow: No clarity on participation of oppn MLAS
CHANDIGARH : The Punjab assembly will meet on Friday for a truncated one-day session amid suspense over the participation of most legislators of the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) due to the Covid-19 protocol after 30 state MLAS tested positive.
A few of these MLAS, who have tested positive and are in quarantine, had participated in the legislature party meetings of the AAP and SAD for the upcoming sitting of the state assembly before their reports came. Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker Rana KP Singh on Thursday advised the legislators who came in contact with coronavirus positive ministers or MLAS to follow the protocol and avoid attending the session. Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh also made a similar appeal.
However, the AAP legislators, whose three colleagues tested positive this week, have decided to attend the session, ignoring their advice. “Barring those who have tested positive, other nine party MLAS will go to attend the session. Besides coronavirus, there are other issues such as Scheduled Caste (SC) scholarships, illicit liquor, SYL and sand mafia that need to be raised. We took the decision in a virtual meeting,” Leader of Opposition (LOP) Harpal Singh Cheema said.
Budhram and Manjit Singh Bilaspur, who have tested positive, had attended the AAP legislature party meeting two days ago in which seven other members were present. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) legislature group, on the other hand, asked the speaker to clarify if the MLAS who had come in contact with their colleague Gurpartap Singh
Wadala, who later tested positive, can attend the assembly session or not. SAD legislature party leader Sharanjit Singh Dhillon and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia said the speaker should give clear-cut directions on the Vidhan Sabha rules and the Covid-19 guidelines. The legislative group was in a state of confusion because it had not received any communication from the speaker, they said. However, the final decision will be taken in a meeting of the legislature party on Friday morning.
The speaker had given the advice after a group of AAP MLAS met him and the SAD legislature party leader wrote to him. As per the official Covid-19 protocol, all contacts of positive persons have to quarantine themselves for 14 days. Of the 30 MLAS who have tested positive so far, 19 are from the Congress, seven from SAD, including a suspended MLA, and four from AAP, including a party rebel. Of them, seven have already recovered, according to official information.
SPEAKER RANA KP SINGH HAS ADVISED THE MEMBERS WHO CAME IN CONTACT WITH CORONAVIRUS POSITIVE COLLEAGUES TO AVOID ATTENDING THE SESSION