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Punjab CM Mann moves confidence motion instate assembly
Mann, who moved the motion despite protests by the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, targeted both parties, accusing them of “conniving” with each other.
Punjab chief minister (CM) Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday moved a confidence motion in the state assembly after the session got off to a stormy start with three adjournments.
Mann, who moved the motion despite protests by the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, targeted both parties, accusing them of “conniving” with each other. The CM claimed that the BJP was trying to lure the legislators, and the Congress was supporting its ‘Operation Lotus’ to topple the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the state.
The trust motion was tabled by the CM two days after governor Banwarilal Purohit — with whom the AAP government was in a deadlock for days over the agenda for the House — summoned the assembly session.
Purohit had called the session after the state government shared with him the legislative and government business to be taken up during the assembly session. There was, however, no mention of the confidence motion in the communication sent to Raj Bhawan.
As soon as speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan announced that Mann will move the confidence motion, there was a ruckus in the house, with members of both BJP and Congress opposing the move.
BJP MLAs Ashwani Sharma and Jangi Lal Mahajan walked out of the House in protest.
Congress leader and leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa also questioned the government’s move to table the confidence motion “all of a sudden” after the governor had denied permission for bringing it. He said there is no provision in the rules and regulations of the state assembly that says that a ruling party can bring a trust motion.
“During the business advisory committee meeting, when I asked about the confidence motion, no clear reply was given,” Bajwa told the speaker. Mann then got up to speak, but Congress members, including Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Sukhbir Singh Khaira started pressing for zero hour, besides opposing the confidence motion. The speaker asked them to take their seats and show respect to the leader of the house (Mann), but they refused to sit. The speaker adjourned the House for 15 minutes.
When the proceedings resumed, cabinet minister Aman Arora questioned the opposition parties’ attempts to oppose the trust motion but he was repeatedly interrupted by the Congress members.
Bajwa called the confidence motion “illegal,” only to be countered by Arora who raised questions over the governor’s action in the matter. The minister also accused the Congress of acting as the “B-team of the BJP” whereas Mann insisted that any motion or bill can be moved in the House with the speaker’s permission. “Why are they feeling so restless if ‘Operation Lotus’ is failing?” he asked.
The Congress members rushed to the well of the House, raising slogans, and were named by the speaker for disrupting the proceedings. Sandhwan told them not to attend the proceedings for the remainder of the day and also adjourned the House for 10 minutes, telling the marshals to take them out. When the House assembled, the Congress members were still in the House and the speaker again adjourned it for the third time, directing that they be marshaled out.Later, the CM moved the confidence motion and the AAP members welcomed the same.The discussion and voting on the confidence motion will continue on Monday (October 3).
