Taking strong exception to SAD president Sukhbir Badal’s call for gherao of Punjab Vidhan Sabha on the first day of the budget session, the Punjab Congress on Friday lashed out at him for perpetrating a major fraud on the people of the state with his misleading statements and false allegations.
“SAD’s decision to gherao the Assembly is totally undemocratic and shameful,” said Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Sunil Jakhar and Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, in a joint statement.
They said that it was further proof of the Akali leadership’s total disregard of parliamentary principles of democracy while citing the opposition party’s unconstitutional behaviour in the august House during the previous sessions.
“Akalis had disrupted every session of the state Assembly since the Congress came to power...These acts are clear evidence that Badal’s party do not want to have any meaningful discussion or debate in the House but is, instead, resorting to petty street politics to play on public sentiments,” they said.
They added that this was hardly surprising since it was more than obvious that the party had no political agenda nor did it have any facts to take on the government.
“Instead of playing the role of a constructive opposition, the Akalis seemed hell-bent on destroying the basic tenets of this democratic institution with their undignified acts,” said Jakhar, while lashing out at Sukhbir for trying persistently to cheat the citizens of Punjab with brazen falsehoods.
He said that Sukhbir’s failure to join the discussions on the preparation of the 550th prakash utsav of Guru Nanak Dev was also in line with the same destructive approach of SAD.
Taking on Sukhbir with a challenge to engage in meaningful debate on issues in the Assembly instead of trying to create a law and order problem by announcing its gherao on the first day of the ensuing budget session, Sidhu said that if he wanted to question the government on any of its policies or acts, let him do so in the House.
SAD president was evidently trying to wriggle out of any such discussion for fear of exposure of his fabrications, he added.
The two senior Congress leaders minced no words in assailing Sukhbir’s cheap public antics, which they described as “desperate attempts to get back into political limelight” after SAD’s humiliating defeats in assembly and municipal polls over the past one year.
Describing Sukhbir as a “joker” who could resort to any level to entertain the people, Sidhu said: “The citizens of Punjab are sick and tired of his capers and wanted serious governance, which Capt Amarinder Singh is providing them.”
Having suffered under the Akali misrule for 10 years, the people had thrown the Akalis out with a vengeance and were in no mood to welcome them back into the state’s political landscape, Sidhu added.