Congress MLA cries insult by DC, turns emotional at House committee hearing

DC didn’t even see that I was accompanied by my party’s block heads. He kept on blasting me. It was not only insult, but humiliation too, for me. DARSHAN SINGH BRAR, MLA, Baghapurana There was no tiff with MLA Darshan Singh Brar... You better take his version. He even met me on Monday. DILRAJ SINGH, Moga DC

CHANDIGARH: At a time when Punjab Congress circles are abuzz with complaints that bureaucrats have more say than elected members in Captain Amarinder Singh’s reign, Congress’s Baghapurana MLA Darshan Singh Brar turned emotional before a Vidhan Sabha committee on Tuesday over a case of alleged humiliation by Moga deputy commissioner Dilraj Singh.

The MLA appeared before the privileges committee about the incident of August 16 when the DC allegedly asked the MLA to wait in the visitor’s room for half an hour and later humiliated him before other Congress leaders.

“I wanted to meet the DC regarding some public work and was accompanied by block Congress presidents Gurcharan Singh Cheeda and Jagsir Singh Arhtiya. But the DC first ignored meeting us and when he called us inside the office, he didn’t even offer a chair,” alleges Brar in the complaint accessed by HT. A former minister and now MLA for a third time, Brar further alleged, “When I objected to the DC that his behaviour was not good with an elected representative, he said, ‘Tuhade warge bade MLA dekhe ne’ (I have seen a lot of MLAs like you).”

The matter was not reported in the media, but Brar quietly pursued it and also reported it to Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Sunil Jakhar, sources said.

He filed the complaint of breach of his privileges as an MLA with the Vidhan Sabha speaker in the last week of August, and he forwarded the complaint to the committee led by Congress MLA Sukhjinder Randhawa.

Sources said that at the committee meeting Brar turned emotional while narrating the “bureaucratic high-headedness” that MLAs are facing. “As elected MLAs, we are answerable to the public and the party workers as well, but the DC didn’t even see that I was accompanied by my party’s block presidents. He just kept on blasting me without any reason. It was not only an insult but humiliation as well,” he said

Brar also told the committee members that he had not raked up the issue in the media to avoid public embarrassment being an MLA of the ruling party, sources said.

When contacted, Brar acknowledged having filed the complaint against the DC. “I have appeared before the privileges committee. I am likely to get another date of hearing as the chairman of the committee was not present.”

As for the DC, he denied any tiff with the MLA. “You better take his version. The MLA even met me on Monday,” said Dilraj.