AAP’S KHAIRA UPLOADS HOUSE RUCKUS VIDEO ON FACEBOOK, SUSPENDED
BUDGET SESSION DAY 3 AAP chief whip says Akalis, Cong made assembly ‘worse than village council’
CHANDIGARH: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira was suspended from the Punjab assembly on Friday for the remainder of the budget session after he posted online a video clip showing ruckus inside the House. Khaira, who had taken the lead in attacking the government on the sand mining auction controversy in the run-up to the assembly session, uploaded the four-minute video clip on Facebook. He was suspended by speaker Rana KP Singh within minutes. Earlier, Congress MLA Ajaib Singh Bhatti was elected as deputy speaker even as the Akalis entered the well of the House, shouting slogans to demand farm debt waiver.
CM TELLS AKALIS NOT TO MAKE NOISE, OR HE’D ‘DISCLOSE THE LIST OF 10 AKALI LEGISLATORS WHO HAVE GOT SAND MINES IN THE AUCTION’
Continuous antigovernment sloganeering for at least 55 minutes by Akali MLAs, followed by pushing and shoving between Akali and Congress MLAs, marked the third day of the Punjab assembly’s budget session, on Friday.
From the Aam Aadmi Party stable, chief whip Sukhpal Singh Khaira was suspended for the rest of the session till June 23 for going live in video on Facebook from inside the House in a bid to underline the commotion caused the Akalis and Congress.
Congress MLA Inderbir Singh Bolaria and Akali MLA Kanwarjit Singh Rozy Barkandi pushed each other as other MLAs of the two parties also joined in manhandling others in the Vidhan Sabha well after the first adjournment for 30 minutes.
Parliamentary affairs minister Brahm Mohindra, MLA Randeep Singh Nabha and other members intervened to save the situation from turning worse. Heated exchanges continued. But the Akali tirade in the house went on minus their top three leaders – former CM Parkash Singh Badal, his son and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, and former revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia — for a second day. Former finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa led the Akali MLAs.
Immediately as the proceedings began with the election of Ajaib Singh Bhatti as deputy speaker, the Akalis jumped to the well, demanding a loan waiver for farmers and also raised slogans against irrigation and power minister Rana Gurjit Singh for allegedly taking sand mines in an auction in the name of proxies. CM’S THREAT Perturbed over the unabated slogan-raising, CM Capt Amarinder Singh got up and said, “I feel no pressure with such tactics,” asking Akali MLAs to go back to their seats. The CM even issued a threat, telling Akali MLAs not to raise “much noise”, or he would “disclose the list of 10 Akali MLAs who have got sand mines in the auction”.
“In your (Akali-BJP) tenure, too, farmers committed suicide; then you took no action. Now, only three months of my government have passed, and you have started raising slogans. Our party has promised a debt waiver, and we are working on it. Wait for the budget,” the CM said.
The Akalis abided to the CM’s call. Earlier, BJP MLA Som Parkash had approached the CM, telling him that the AkaliBJP MLAs would stop sloganeering after an assurance on debt waiver.
Later, AAP’s Khaira became the second MLA to be suspended from the House for the remainder of the session, following ally Lok Insaaf Party’s Simarjeet Singh Bains who was suspended on Thursday for throwing papers at the speaker. KHAIRA THE REPORTER Action against Khaira came after he uploaded a four-minute video of the ruckus in the House after the Akalis disrupted proceedings over farm debt waiver.
Speaker Rana KP Singh ordered marshals to seize Khaira’s mobile phone and named him twice, which means he was suspended for the session.
“The Punjab assembly has been reduced to worse than a pendu (village) panchayat by the Akalis and the Congress. Here is a live coverage of the drama in the House. Take a look,” Khaira said in Punjabi in the video when the assembly was adjourned within an hour of the meeting. “You can see Aam Aadmi Party sitting silently on benches, while Akali and Congress MLAs are arguing, sitting on the floor. What did the Akalis do for farmers during their 10-year rule?” he said.
The formality of the suspension came on a resolution moved by parliamentary affairs minister Brahm Mohindra against Khaira “for violating decorum of the House by recording a video clip inside of the House and posting it up his Facebook page”.
The speaker, without seeking an explanation from Khaira, announced the orders, “I name you, I name you.” Raising an objection, AAP MLAs then staged a walkout. The speaker announced a second adjournment at this.
“I have done no wrong, what I did was during the time when the House was adjourned. it calls for no privilege motion,” Khaira said, “Congress MLAs, when in opposition (during SAD-BJP regime), used to do the same... The speaker is biased. Leave aside giving opposition time to speak, he doesn’t even look towards the opposition.”
SIDHU AND COMMOTION
Earlier, during the question-answer session, the speaker adjourned the House as local bodies and tourism minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, while answering a question from Congress’ Harminder Gill, started bashing the Badals, at which the 12 Akali MLAs and one from BJP got close to Sidhu in objection.
To avoid any untoward situation, marshal surrounded Sidhu.
When the situation appeared to go out of control, the speaker adjourned the House at 10.55am for 30 minutes.
“They (Badals) made 650 buses of their companies run on Punjab roads, but caused loss of Rs 350 crore to the PRTC,” said Sidhu.