Cabinet minister Fauja Singh Sarari’ issue again rocks Punjab assembly
AAP government tables and passes three bills amid din, without any discussion; the Congress members, who also created pandemonium over this issue a day earlier, staged a noisy protest in the well of the House on Friday to press for the dismissal and arrest of Sarari.
Ruckus continued in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha for the second consecutive day over cabinet minister Fauja Singh Sarari’s alleged extortion plan audio case, with the opposition Congress insisting on an assurance from chief minister (CM) Bhagwant Mann on action against the minister even as it came under fire from speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan for disrupting the proceedings.
The Congress members, who also created pandemonium over this issue a day earlier, staged a noisy protest in the well of the House on Friday to press for the dismissal and arrest of Sarari.
Mann not only did not respond to their demands, he and some of his ministers also took turns to slam the opposition party. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government tabled and passed three bills, including the Punjab State Vigilance Commission (Repeal) Bill, 2022, in less than 10 minutes amid din without any discussion. Sarari has been in the line of opposition fire ever since an audio clip, purportedly of conversation between him and his former close aide, discussing ways to “trap” some contractors through officials to get money from them, had surfaced this month. Mann had, on Wednesday, said that a notice has been served to the minister.
As soon as the House met at 11am, leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, while speaking during the Zero Hour, asked the AAP government about action against Sarari as no assurance had come from the CM on this issue. Later, when Mann reached the House, Bajwa and other Congress members rose and demanded a statement from him on action against the cabinet minister. As the CM tabled the Punjab State Vigilance Commission Bill, they stormed the well of the House, seeking Sarari’s dismissal and arrest.
Sandhwan asked the protesting members to return to their seats and discuss the bill, stating that they had betrayed the people of the state by disrupting the proceedings. They, however, continued raising slogans in the well. Accusing them of resorting to theatrics to waste “precious time” of the House, Mann also slammed the Congress legislators for calling the speaker “nakli” (fake). These MLAs had worked with ‘nakli’ chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh as he was always a BJP man, the chief minister said, asking them to start calling their party Congress (BJP) instead of Congress (I), and join the parallel session being held by the BJP outside the state assembly.
As several AAP members urged the speaker to initiate action against the Congress members, cabinet ministers Harpal Singh Cheema, Aman Arora and Dhaliwal hit out at the protesting MLAs for disrupting proceedings. Arora said they had nothing to say against the AAP government, and were, therefore, doing a drama. Sandhwan said an amount of ₹70-80 lakh is spent daily on running the session but some members wasted two days of the House. The speaker further said he was pained to see the conduct of the Congress MLAs.
Earlier, during the zero hour, Bajwa took up the issues of crop damage due to rains, MSP on moon, non-payment of incentive for direct seeding of rice, high sand and gravel rates and the law-and-order situation. AAP MLA Kulwant Singh Pandori demanded a resolution seeking elections to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), while his party colleague Gurpreet Bassi raised the issue of hefty fee hikes, readmission fee and infra charges being imposed by private schools.
Congress MLA Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who is also heads the Punjab Congress, drew the attention of the state government to non-payment of salaries to Anganwari workers in the state for past three months. Congress member Raj Kumar Chabbewal took up the issue of denial of reservation to SC candidates by the state government in the appointment of Punjab Civil Service (Executive branch), stating that the personnel department is providing reservation in direct recruitment but not giving it in appointments made through different registers.
Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira and the speaker also had sharp exchanges during the zero hour with the former griping that he was not being given an opportunity to speak. The three-time MLA said he wanted to raise an issue of huge public importance but was not being allowed to speak. “Nobody can dictate the chair,” the speaker told the members. The House also discussed a calling attention notice given Congress members Partap Singh Bajwa, Raj Kumar Chabbewal and Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary on compensation to farmers for damage to paddy crop due to rain. In response, revenue minister Bram Shanker Jimpa told the House that a special girdawari has already been ordered to assess the crop damage.