Ahead of the two-day special session of the Punjab Assembly, beginning October 19, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday said views of the MLAs would be taken into account while finalising the strategy to battle the Centre’s farm laws, in consultation with legal and independent experts.
The Opposition parties — Aam Aadmi Party and Shiromani Akali Dal — however, questioned the State government’s alleged “secrecy” surrounding the proposed agenda.
“This fight will go on, we will take the fight to the Supreme Court,” Captain Amarinder said at a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP). He said the whole world was watching Punjab with a lot of expectation and the views of the MLAs were extremely important for drafting a comprehensive strategy to protect the State’s farmers and agriculture.
‘Clear stand’
He said for the Congress, the fight was not about politics but to save the State’s farmers and decision will be taken in the interest of the farming community. Taking a dig at the Akalis, the Chief Minister said the Congress was not double-faced and had a clear stand on the issue of the farm laws.
Extend session: AAP
AAP has demanded an extension to the proposed one-day special session to at least seven days to discuss and debate threadbare the implications of the farm laws. A delegation of the party, led by Leader of Opposition Harpal Singh Cheema, met Assembly Speaker Rana K.P. Singh and submitted a memorandum flagging certain core issues of concern.
“Barely a few hours were left for the special session to commence, neither the Punjab government nor the Vidhan Sabha secretariat had informed the principal opposition party about the detailed agenda to be put across in the Vidhan Sabha,” he said.
‘Fool-proof legislation’
The SAD asked the Chief Minister to come out with a fool-proof legislation so that the rights of the farmers were secured in perpetuity.
SAD leaders Sharanjit Singh Dhillon and Bikram Singh Majithia said there were already apprehensions that the Congress was hand-in- glove with the Modi government and had purposely not taken all stakeholders into confidence so that no effective step was taken to stymie the implementation of the Central laws in Punjab.
