Unruly scenes were witnessed in Punjab Assembly on Thursday as the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLAs were virtually cross swords after the Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi made certain remarks about Akali legislator Bikram Singh Majithia, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House for four times.
As Akali MLAs continued their protest demanding apology from the Chief Minister for his “objectionable” remarks, the Speaker Rana KP Singh barred all the SAD legislators from attending the House proceedings further. The situation went ugly when Channi, while concluding the debate on the resolution on the Centre’s three farm laws, accused Majithia of corruption and smuggling. Enraged, Majithia rushed towards Channi’s seat, followed by other Akali MLAs joining him in the well of the House, raising objection over the Chief Minister’s remarks.
Congress MLAs too quickly come to Channi’s rescue, before things got bad, and a heated war of words ensued between the two sides. Deputy Chief Minister OP Soni and Cabinet Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa acted as referees, and trying to calm down both sides, but in vain.
Congress MLA Kulbir Singh Zira lost his temper and was stopped by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa when he was trying to charge towards Majithia. Amidst pandemonium, the Speaker adjourned the House four times to restore the order. Deputy Speaker Ajaib Singh Bhatti, who was in chair, extended the adjournment by 15 minutes while Akali and Congress MLAs were called for a separate meeting. As the House resumed after almost a series of adjournments, totalling an hour, SAD MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu lashed out at the Chief Minister Channi for diverting the House’s attention from the debate on the three farm laws, and sought an apology.
Supporting, the Leader of Opposition and AAP MLA Harpal Singh Cheema also came down heavily on the Chief Minister stating that he had no right to speak ill of any MLA. Cheema asked why the Special Task Force report on drug smuggling had not been made public.
Even after the resolution against farm laws was passed, the Akali MLAs continued to protest against Channi and were adamant that he apologise.
The Speaker adjourned the House for another time, while barring all the protesting SAD MLAs from attending the House proceedings.