Monsoon session of Pb Assembly begins, Cong calls it a 'mere

Congress attacked the SAD-BJP government in Punjab for keeping the monsoon session of Assembly, which began here today, limited to four sittings, describing it as a "mere formality".
"The SAD-BJP government is running away from holding meaningful debate on burning issues like problems of cotton and sugarcane farmers," Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Sunil Jakhar said after a meeting with party MLAs.
"In such a short duration how can problems of all sections of the society including that of the farmers can be raised," he said, and asked Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal to extend the on-going Session.
The monsoon session of Punjab Assembly, which began here today with the obituary reference, will be having two sittings for legislative business and one day is kept for no-official business next week.

Jakhar said that Congress MLAs will take up issues concerning the state whenever they get an opportunity in the Assembly, and take on the government over different issues like drug abuse, illegal mining and law and order.
SAD General Secretary and Cabinet Minister Daljit Singh Cheema accused Congress of making "unnecessary hue and cry" over the duration of the session, saying the opposition is devoid of issues which it can raise in the Assembly.

"Congress is in a habit of raising baseless issues and whenever given an opportunity to put its point it had failed miserably in it on the floor of the House," he said.

Whitefly attack on cotton crop in Punjab has snowballed into a big issue, besides pendency in payment of arrears of sugarcane growers by the mill owners.
Though the state government had released close to Rs 10 crore for the payment to cotton growers affected by whitefly attack, Congress is up in arms against the SAD-BJP combine for the "meagre" payment.
MLAs belonging to both the SAD-BJP alliance and Congress had separate meetings here after the obituary references on the first day of the monsoon session.