Decided to act when his chair began to shake: Oppn on Mann’s President plea
Opposition parties in Punjab on Saturday accused Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of remaining silent on the State’s issues and acting only when his “chair began to shake”, as he sought time to meet the President over the exodus of AAP Rajya Sabha MPs.
They said the AAP had betrayed the people of Punjab by nominating those “outsiders” to the Rajya Sabha and the party was now reaping what it had sowed.
In a surprise move on Friday, seven Rajya Sabha MPs of the AAP, including six from Punjab, defected to the BJP.
The seven MPs are Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Swati Maliwal and Vikramjit Sahney.
According to AAP sources, Mann on Saturday sought time from President Droupadi Murmu for a meeting to present his party’s stand on the “recall” of the MPs.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia accused Mann of keeping mum on Punjab’s issues.
“The moment his chair began to shake, he remembered the President.
But on the issues of ‘bandi Singhs ‘ (Sikh prisoners), farmers and Punjab’s rights, there has always been silence. This is the real face of Bhagwant Mann,” Majithia said in a Statement.
Punjab’s resources were being “looted with both hands” by leaders from Delhi, but the chief minister had remained quiet, he charged.
Referring to the AAP’s claim that the defecting MPs had betrayed Punjab, State Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said it was not true as Punjabis never had any expectations from them.
“The people of Punjab were actually betrayed the day you nominated all those people, some outsiders and some big billionaires, to the Rajya Sabha,” he said.
The AAP is reaping what it sowed, he added. The Congress leader said the defection of the MPs was in the interest of the people of Punjab.
“Whether it was the membership of Parliament or the power that these people enjoyed, it was all at the expense of the people of Punjab. Punjabi AAP workers were ignored to reward and accommodate the outsiders,” Warring said, adding that the people of the State would always remember this.
