House of chaos: Tempers fly after Tinu’s remarks against Manpreet
ASSEMBLY PASSES PRIVILEGE MOTION AGAINST AKALI LEGISLATOR TINU
CHANDIGARH: The Punjab assembly witnessed chaotic scenes on the last day of the budget session on Wednesday when some Congress members scuffled with Akali MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu after he made “objectionable remarks” against finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal.
Both sides later blamed each other for the ugly incident which led to a 15-minute adjournment of the House and a privilege motion against Tinu. Trouble started when the Akali MLA wanted to raise an issue related to Scheduled Caste (SC) scholarships, but was not given permission as speaker Rana KP Singh had already asked an AAP member to move his call attention notice, signalling the end of the zero hour. An upset Tinu stormed the well of the House, carrying a placard, and raised anti-government slogans. Parliamentary affairs minister Brahm Mohindra objected to the SAD member’s behaviour, calling it “unacceptable”. Raising slogans, Tinu went into the area of the treasury benches, stood before the finance minister’s bench in the front row and made some remarks which were not audible in the press gallery. This angered Badal, who is not known to lose his cool, and he sprang to his feet to retort. Kulbir Singh Zira, Barindermeet Singh Pahra and some other Congress MLAS also reacted angrily to the Akali MLA’S actions and came to the floor of the House.
There was a heated exchange and the Congress members confronted Tinu. Amid pushing and shoving, Congress MLA Pargat Singh and Akali members Harinderpal Singh Chandumajra and Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi intervened to prevent the situation from getting worse even as the speaker adjourned the House.
When the proceedings resumed, Mohindra termed Tinu’s behaviour as “condemnable”. He then brought a privilege motion against the Akali MLA which was passed by the House to refer the matter to the privilege committee. Later, Tinu alleged that the FM was against Dalits and had abused him.