The four-day Punjab Assembly session on Wednesday ended on a bitter note with the concluding day witnessing unruly scenes, including a shoe being hurled towards the ruling combine members.
Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal had to adjourn the House five minutes into the proceedings after opposition Congress MLAs thronged the well of the House, demanding a discussion on the no-confidence motion moved by the party against the ruling SAD-BJP government in the State.
When the House resumed after about 15 minutes, former Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Sunil Jakhar said he was expecting the Speaker to resolve the issue by calling the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition.
“But, you (Speaker) have denigrated the post by taking orders from Sukhbir Badal. You did not want a debate,” he alleged.
The Speaker then told Mr. Jakhar that he was “insulting” the chair and asked the Opposition members to go back to their seats. “I know my duty and I want to run the House,” he said.
Demand for debate
Several Congress MLAs spent two consecutive nights in the House, sticking to their demand for a debate on the no-confidence motion which was defeated by a voice vote on Monday.
The Speaker said that as he came to know that the Congress MLAs were staying put in the House, he made arrangements for the lights to be switched on there.
At this, the Congress MLAs again thronged the well, demanding a debate on the no-confidence motion.
The Speaker said the House had already rejected it.
“I am sorry to say, you have wasted the time of the House. Therefore, I suspend question hour, zero hour and two calling attention notices,” he said and proceeded to take up the Bills to get them passed.
At this juncture, the Congress MLAs started throwing papers towards the Speaker’s chair.
Around 10 members of the Assembly’s watch-and-ward staff cordoned off the Speaker as the Congress MLAs, including Amarinder Raja Warring, Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Sukhjinder Randhawa, hurled papers and CAG books towards his chair.
Amid the din and under protection from the watch-and-ward staff, the Speaker started taking up the Bills one-by-one. He asked some Ministers, including Tota Singh and Parminder Singh Dhindsa, to present their Bills.
Amid the ruckus, a shoe was hurled from the Opposition benches which fell just short of where Minister Bikram Singh Majithia was sitting. - PTI
