Amarinder lashes out at AAP for unruly conduct in House

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today lashed out at the Aam Aadmi Party for the "unruly and obnoxious" conduct of its MLAs inside the state Assembly, terming it an "unprecedented act amounting to Constitutional sacrilege".
Amarinder, who is also the CLP (Congress Legislative Party) leader, told media persons outside the House that he had not seen such disrespect being shown to the Chair in his 50 years in politics.
The chief minister called for a privilege motion against the AAP members who resorted to "rowdy and shameful" behaviour, saying that they had attacked the sanctity of the House.
He said the dignity of the House could not be allowed to be compromised under any circumstances. The behaviour of AAP was unacceptable, he added.

"The Vidhan Sabha is a sacred place meant to discuss issues related to the welfare of people and if we create such obstructions in the way of smooth functioning of the House, it amounts to gagging the voice of the people, who have sent us here to represent them," he said.
Singh hit out at the "disruptive" behaviour of the Akalis, who also resorted to obstruction of the smooth functioning of the House on the second day of the budget session of Punjab Assembly here.

All members have the democratic right to raise issues but in a decent manner befitting their status as elected representatives of the people, he added.

He dismissed all charges by AAP on the sand mining issue, saying the e-auction had been conducted in such a transparent manner for the first time in the state, earning the exchequer huge revenues.
In response to a question, Amarinder said he had already assured the House that the Vigilance Bureau would examine the matter of encroachment of water works land in Abohar city by certain influential people, managed during the previous SAD- BJP regime through tampering of the revenue records.
Congress MLA Harpartap Singh Ajnala had raised this issue during question hour in the House, saying the said sites had been grabbed fraudulently after getting the registries executed in their names.

Amarinder reiterated his commitment to farm loan waiver, saying his government would take the necessary steps once the report of the expert group led by T Haque comes.
The SAD ruckus in the House today on the issue was nothing but a "political gimmick" aimed at garnering "cheap publicity", he said.
He said his government was not waiting for the central government to announce debt waiver though it would welcome any such move to help the farmers of the country in their hour of crisis.
With or without central assistant, his government, said Amarinder, was committed to implement the debt waiver promise just as it has fulfilled many other key promises made to the people of Punjab.

On being asked about the allegation levelled by Akali MLAs in the house regarding derogatory remarks passed by Navjot Singh Sidhu, the chief minister said he was close to Sidhu and was sure the minister did not utter any derogatory words.