Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal want the legislators to virtually go back to school to seek lessons on the rules of procedure and conduct of Vidhan Sabha.
Stressing on the need to give MlAs a grounding in the rules, Manpreet pointed out to the newly-elected Speaker Rana KP Singh about previous practice of holding “classes” of the elected representatives where the superintendent used to give lessons on the rules of procedure.
Manpreet, addressing the House to congratulate Congress MlA Rana for being elected as the Speaker, rued that the level of debate in the House has declined to a great extent over the years.
“There is a need to tell MlAs that the House is not a political platform and it has set standards and rules which we have to follow,” he said.
Notably, providing training to the House members is a precedence in the Parliament.
The similar idea of conducting a training programme on House proceedings for the MlAs was also mooted in the previous House by the then Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal.
Atwal, peeved over the behaviour of some of the MlAs, had asserted that a training camp should be held for all the MlAs in the Assembly for four to five days as it would be “useful for the legislators, including the seniors, to be aware about how to respect the ‘Chair’, when to speak during the Session, when to take point of order, and how to put a question”.
The former Deputy Speaker of lok Sabha, Atwal had noted that many legislators, including those who are not first time MlAs, don't know much about proceedings of the Assembly.
Pointing out other areas and functions of the assembly which needs improvement, Manpreet stressed that the House’s committee system has to be amended “which has turned out to be a way to mark attendance”.
“This is the right time rectify the same…there is a lot of backlog with maximum in the PAC (Public Accounts Committee),” he said.
He added that there is a need to make executive accountable to legislative. “The executive has been successful in saving itself from the same…they are not answerable to the MlAs and this has to be put right he said, as the babus, present in the gallery, look upon with some smiling.
In his characteristic style, Manpreet also urged the Speaker to give “more preference to the opposition” during the proceedings as he was the “custodian of the House’s dignity”.
“The government and the opposition are the two wheels of the democracy which would run smoothly if both of them move in tandem,” he said while calling upon all the 117 members of the House to come together to take the state to another level of success.
SIDHU’S ANOTHER GOOF-UP
Presently embroiled in a controversy over continuation of his TV show along with performing his ministerial responsibilities, the cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday committed another goof-up.
The first-timer in the Vidhan Sabha walked in front of the treasury benches from his seat to that of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to make him some point. He was immediately corrected by his “neighbour” Brahm Mohindra — Congress’ senior most MlA.
Startled to see Sidhu moving in front of the benches — which is in violation of the set procedures, Mohindra wasted no time to ask Sidhu to take his seat. And in a hurry to take his seat, Sidhu was about to commit the same mistake, but Mohindra rescued Sidhu by pulling him by arm and showing the way.
Sidhu’s faux-paus seemed to have gone unnoticed by many as the state Finance Minister Manpreet Badal had captured everyone’s attention with his captivating speech, and Waaris Shah’s couplets.
On the first day also, Sidhu occupied the seat meant only for the leader of the House — the chief minister — when Capt Amarinder left the House. He was pointed by the Vidhan Sabha personnel, after which he went back to his seat.
BADAls TAKE OATH IN SPEAKER’S CHAMBER
Skipping the proceedings of the newly-constituted House also on the second day, the Badals father-son duo — former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Badal — on Monday took oath as MlAs in the Speaker’s chamber by Rana KP Singh.
The two said that they would oppose the proposed bill on appointment of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries, if and when it was brought in the House by the Congress government.
Badal said that he had fractured a rib after he slipped and fell and sought Speaker Rana KP’s permission to remain absent from the House for the remaining session.
Sukhbir, though said that he would attend the session, was conspicuous by his absence.
Both of them also missed the first day of the assembly on March 24, Friday.
NEW SEATING ARRANGEMENT
As per the new seating arrangement, the Congress ministers sit in the first row of the Treasury Benches in the order of their seniority. Next to the Chief Minister’s seat, Brahm Mohindra—second in command in the government, and Navjot Singh Sidhu—three time MP, have got their seats.
In the Opposition, three rows have been allotted to the aam Aadmi party, and three to the SAD-BJP combine. AAP’s ally, lok Insaf Party, has been allowed to sit along with AAP legislators.