Navjot Sidhu skips first day of Pb Assembly session; 3 MLAs who quit AAP attend

Former minister and Congress MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday skipped the first day of Punjab Assembly session, even as three AAP MLAs who had quit the party marked their presence in the House.

The monsoon session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha began here on Friday.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was among those who attended the session.

The House paid tributes to the departed personalities who died since the last session.

Sidhu, who has been at loggerheads with the chief minister, had resigned as minister from the Punjab cabinet last month after his portfolio was changed.

The Congress MLA from the Amritsar East assembly seat has since remained incommunicado.

Sidhu, who is no more a cabinet minister, has been given a seat in the second row of the treasury benches in the House, officials said. Earlier, when he was a minister, his seat was next to minister Brahm Mohindra in the front row.

The 55-year-old Congress leader was stripped off key portfolios in the cabinet reshuffle in June.

The chief minister had divested Sidhu of the Local Government and Tourism and Cultural Affairs departments and allotted him the Power and New and Renewable Energy portfolio.

Meanwhile, three Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators-- Nazar Singh Manshahia (Mansa), Amarjit Singh Sandoa (Roopnagar) and Baldev Singh (Jaito)-- attended the assembly session on Friday. They sat in the last row of the benches allotted for AAP legislators.

Sandoa and Baldev said they attended the session to raise the issues of their respective constituencies.

When asked whether he will support the ruling party when opposition benches take on treasury benches, Sandoa said, "It will be seen when the time comes."