SAD-BJP walks out during guv address, LIP follows suit
CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs on Tuesday staged a walkout during the address of Punjab governor VP Singh Badnore on the opening day of the budget session in the assembly, terming all the claims of the state government “a bundle of lies”.
Also, the Bains brothers of the Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) walked out in protest against Badnore speaking in English, and not in Hindi or Punjabi.
Reacting sharply to this after the governor concluded his speech, chief minister Amarinder Singh called it ‘badtameezi’ (disrespect) to the “head of the state” and a cheap political stunt.
Soon after Bandore began his address, the alliance MLAs led by former finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa reached the well of the House while the legislators of the principal opposition party, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), chose to stay put.
Badnore said the state doesn’t have surplus water and the government was making all efforts to save rivers and groundwater, and that the Central Groundwater Board has declared two-third area of the state as “dark zone”.
“Unfortunately, even as the central authorities have declared Punjab as a water-starved state, the fact that the state doesn’t have surplus water is not fully appreciated,” he added.
He blamed the previous AkaliBJP government for creating a financial mess in Punjab as they left the state in a fiscal debt of ₹13,039 crore in 2017.
Taking strong exception to his statement, Dhindsa while coming out of the house said, “What the governor is saying has no truth. He has been given figures by the government to read a speech.”
On the issue of the protests by teachers’ unions, Badnore said “my government is seriously concerned about the woes of teachers” and it will take all possible measures to redress their grievances. “Not only the teachers, the grievances of all state employees are receiving the government’s full attention as it doesn’t anyone to suffer,” he said.
Referring to the recommendations of the Justice (retited) Ranjit Singh Badnore commission of inquiry, he said the Congress government will take the cases of sacrilege to a logical conclusion.
He lauded the government for what he described as effective tackling of the Duseehra disaster involving the death of 58 people in a train mishap and a grenade attack at a Nirankari centre in Amritsar.
The governor said the government’s pet schemes such as the ‘Karja Kurki Khatam…’ and the ‘Ghar Ghar Rozgaar…’ are running quite successfully, even as the protesting SAD-BJP MLAs termed the claims a farce.
He said the government’s farm debt relief has touched 5.83 lakh farmers giving them a relief of ₹4,736 crore. “
He said the government will make all efforts to make the Kartarpur corridor operational by the upcoming 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.
CHIEF MINISTER SAYS WALKOUT WAS DISRESPECT TO ‘HEAD OF THE STATE’