Cong to 'expose' Akalis, AAP in Punjab Assembly

The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) today decided on an aggressive but constructive strategy to "expose" the Akalis and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the floor of the Punjab Assembly during the ongoing Budget Session.

It was decided at the CLP meeting, convened by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, that the ruling party legislators would corner the Akalis in the House for unleashing a "false" propaganda campaign against the government on various issues.

It was also unanimously decided to use the social media more aggressively to counter the "fraudulent" information being spread by the Akalis to mislead the people, a release issued by the Congress said.

Directing the party MLAs to go all out to "expose" the Akalis on the floor of the House, the chief minister, while reiterating his stand that his government would not indulge in political vendetta, made it clear that the "misdeeds" of the Akalis would not go unpunished and that those found guilty of any wrongdoing against the people of Punjab would be punished as per law.

Singh directed the CLP members to use the government's achievements (a list of which was provided at the meeting) to counter the Opposition's "deceitful" propaganda.

They should, in particular, highlight the clean governance provided to Punjab by the Congress government, the chief minister said.

The meeting also discussed the ways to ensure a smooth floor management to protect the sanctity of the House and make sure that the taxpayers' money was not allowed to be wasted by a disruptive Opposition.

Asserting that the ruling party was well aware of the issues likely to be raised in the House by the Opposition, the chief minister asked the party MLAs to be prepared with facts and data to counter the same.

The task of speaking in the House on the issue of illegal sand-mining was assigned to Raja Warring.

Health Minister Brahm Mohindra underlined the need for the Congress to seize the advantage resulting from the fact that both the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and AAP were busy trading allegations and counter-allegations in the charged political environment.

Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi was of the opinion that the Congress should shame the AAP during the Zero Hour over Arvind Kejriwal's apology to Akali leader and former state minister Bikram Singh Majithia, which amounted to "violation" of the trust of the people of Punjab.

Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu stressed the need to spread the message about the government's numerous achievements among the people. "In a year, we have achieved what the SAD-BJP combine could not achieve in 10 years," he added.

A suggestion was mooted by some members to compare the first year of the Congress government in Punjab with the first year of the erstwhile SAD-BJP regime.

State Congress chief Sunil Jakhar wanted a tough message to go to the Akalis that the government's policy of non-vindictiveness was not a sign of its weakness.

The Akalis should speak on the floor of the House or go to the courts with their allegations against the Congress government, instead of causing problems for the ordinary citizens with their dharnas and rallies, he said.