Congress MLAs refuse to vacate Punjab Assembly complex

Punjab Congress MLAs today refused to vacate the Assembly even after spending the night in the House and stuck to their demand of a debate on the no-confidence motion moved by the party against the state government.
The protesting MLAs refused to accept the appeal of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who reached the spot in the afternoon, to call off their protest.
As many as 26 Congress MLAs have been protesting against the decision of the Speaker not allowing a debate on the no-confidence motion which was defeated by a voice vote yesterday.
Earlier in the day, a heated exchange took place between the security personnel and the MLAs, including Amarinder Raja Warring and Sukhjinder Randhawa, after the police stopped their colleagues from entering the Assembly complex.

Despite the security personnel restricting the entry, Warring and Randhawa managed to bring two MLAs, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and Balbir Singh Sidhu, into the Assembly complex.
Senior leaders Ambika Soni, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Lal Singh and Raj Kumar Verka were among those not allowed entry into the House and they were sitting outside the Assembly.

Bhattal alleged that not allowing the Congress MLAs to enter the House amounted to "murder of democracy" and asserted that they will take the fight to the streets.
Several MLAs, including Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Lal Singh, Raj Kumar Verka, Kewal Dhillon and Bram Mohindra, staged a protest outside the Assembly complex and some Congress members even burnt an effigy of the SAD-BJP government.

Security personnel put up barricades on the road leading to the Assembly to stop the entry of the MLAs and the media.
Restrictions were imposed on the entry to the Assembly.
In a letter, written by Punjab Assembly Secretariat to the DIG (Security), it was mentioned, "Today being a holiday and due to maintenance and security related matters of the Punjab Assembly and its premises, no person except the Assembly staff and security is allowed to enter the premises without the permission of Speaker."
Speaking to the media, Lal Singh said they were being treated like "terrorists", wondering how could MLAs be stopped from entering the Assembly.

Meanwhile, the 26 MLAs continued with their protest inside the Assembly by wearing aprons with the following words written on them -- 'Punjab da cancer -- Badal Parivar' (Punjab's cancer -- the Badal family).
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Badal told the Congress MLAs that he was "pained" at the protest staged by the members of the House.
However, Leader of Opposition Charanjit Singh Channi asked him whether he had brought any proposal to resolve the issue.
Congress MLAs Kuljit Nagra and Bharat Bhushan Ashu told Badal that the government could perpetrate "as much injustice as they wanted" but they will continue to stay put till their demand for a debate on the no-confidence motion was met.

Meanwhile, the personal staff of the protesting Congress MLAs could be seen bringing clothes, water, food and medicines, including injections, for them.
The protesting MLAs claimed that a lot of restrictions were imposed by the security staff in bringing clothes, food and medicines inside the Assembly complex.
Though fans and lights were switched on, the air-conditioners were not, they further claimed.
Earlier in the day, four women Congress MLAs -- Aruna Chaudhary, Charanjit Kaur Bajwa, Karan Kaur Brar and Harchand Kaur -- who spent the night in the House, came out of the Assembly.
Ashu said, "We will continue to stay here till our demand was met."

The no-confidence motion moved by the Congress against the SAD-BJP government was defeated by a voice vote yesterday amid acrimonious scenes.
After the Assembly was adjourned by the Speaker yesterday, the Congress MLAs remained in the House and several of them even spent the night there.
Earlier, electricity was switched off but was later turned on by the Assembly staff and the MLAs received refreshments from their staff at night.
The House was not sitting today on account of Eid-ul-Zuha and the proceedings will resume tomorrow.
The no-confidence motion, admitted on September 8, was moved on several grounds, including "failure of the state government to protect the interests of Punjab on the SYL canal issue, deteriorating law and order situation in the state, emergence of mafia groups, rampant corruption, deteriorating fiscal position of the state and failure in apprehending the culprits behind the Bargari sacrilege case".

Meanwhile, Punjab Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Channi announced that the sit-in at the Assembly hall would continue till tomorrow.
Rejecting the appeal of the chief minister to vacate the house, he said Badal approached them with "empty hands" and without any proposal and described the visit as a "political stunt" and a "mere photo opportunity".
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Channi also described Badal's appeal to the protesting Congress MLAs as a "mere lip service".
"The Congress party reiterates its demand to allow time for a discussion on the current issues of Punjab tomorrow and immediate arrest of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and minister Bikram Majithia for their alleged involvement in illegal mining and drugs trade," he said, adding that a complaint in this regard was submitted to the DGP yesterday.

"The Parkash Singh Badal government was so scared of facing the attack that the discussion on the no-confidence motion initiated by me in the House yesterday was deliberately scuttled by creating unnecessary disruptions. The ruling benches started the ruckus from the very first sentence I uttered, referring to the loot by the Badal family," Channi said.
He also urged Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal to allow a discussion and debate when the House meets tomorrow as they were the representatives of the people and it was their duty to "articulate their concerns".
He charged Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal with "murder of democracy in full view".

He claimed that it was Sukhbir who had allegedly signalled to his ministers and MLAs to create a pandemonium so that the opposition members could not raise the issues concerning the people.
Channi also condemned the authorities for not allowing senior Congress MLAs from entering the Assembly in the morning, saying this violated their "democratic rights".
He also blamed Sukhbir for "working with the Chandigarh Police" to stop the senior MLAs from entering the Assembly.
Channi said ruling party members not allowing opposition members to speak on a motion that was admitted was "unprecedented".
He claimed that the people of the state would now express their "no-confidence" against the ruling dispensation in the February 2017 Assembly election.

Channi also briefed Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh who called him on the phone at least thrice. Party general secretary Asha Kumari and secretary Harish Chaudhary too called him to inquire about the situation.
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"For the first time in history, the opposition has forced the government walk out of the House," Amarinder claimed while justifying the protest by his party colleagues.
"You may run away from the Assembly, but how long can you run away from the people? We are going to drag you to the people's court," he said and declared that the protests will now spread to the entire state and the "final battle" will be fought "by the ballot".

At Patiala, the Punjab Congress chief also lashed out at the chief minister for "trying to shed crocodile tears" by coming to meet the protesting legislators and asking them to withdraw the 'dharna' when he should have intervened and facilitated the discussion on the no-confidence motion yesterday itself.
"This is too little and too late and Badal is trying to shed crocodile tears in his characteristic manner," Amarinder said, adding that if the chief minister was really sincere, he, as the Leader of the House, should not have allowed this situation to emerge in the first place.
"The fight has just started and we will take it to its logical conclusion," he announced, while reiterating that the protests will now move out of the Assembly and reach "every nook and corner" of the state.

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Meanwhile, in a show of support to their protesting MLAs at the Punjab Assembly, Congress workers all over the state staged demonstrations, condemning the "undemocratic and dictatorial" attitude of the state government and the Speaker.
The protests were held as per directions of Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh.
"While our legislators are battling it out inside the Assembly, we have decided to take the fight to the streets and every nook and corner of the state," Amarinder said in a release.
Coordinated by the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), the protests were staged at all the district headquarters and major towns where the party workers burnt effigies of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Punjab Assembly Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal.

Demonstrations were held at Ludhiana, Patiala, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Bathinda, Khanna, Pathankot, Faridkot, Ferozpur, Kapurthala and other towns, the release said.
The Congress workers pledged their support with their colleagues in the Assembly who had succeeded in "drawing the attention" to the "deteriorating law and order situation in the state" and made the ruling combine members "run away".
Amarinder had urged the party workers to ensure that the protests did not lead to any untoward incident or harassment to the general public.
The Punjab Congress chief later thanked the party workers for standing in solidarity with the legislators.
He assured them that the party leadership will take the fight to its "logical conclusion" and will not rest till the government was held "accountable" for all its "sins of omission and commission".

"In any case, it is a matter of five more months when we will make them answerable to the people for what they have done in the last 10 years," he added.
Meanwhile, Batala MLA (Congress) Ashwani Sekhri, whose blood pressure reportedly dropped, was moved out of the Assembly complex in an ambulance.
He was participating in the protest there.