Chandigarh: During the recent budget session of the Punjab assembly, the ruling government was repeatedly questioned by its own MLAs on the attitude of bureaucracy and the failures on several fronts, including transport policy, power purchase agreements, law and order and illegal sand mining. During the session, the speaker gave the opposition MLAs enough time to raise issues concerning the citizens of the state and, interestingly, attack the Speaker himself.
The provisions of the budget were not discussed threadbare by the Akalis and Aam Aadmi Party, but were perfunctorily commented upon. On this count, the SAD was hampered by the fact that previous finance minister, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, who used to rebut finance minister Manpreet Badal with facts and figures, was not present in the houseafter having rebelled against Sukhbir Badal and joined hands with his father, Parminder Singh Dhindsa.
Cong and its woes
The most embarrassing moments for the government, however, did not come from the opposition ranks but from the treasury benches where MLAs did not mince words to highlight the failings of the government despite having been in power for three years. The most searing of attacks was made by the Congress MLA from Gidderbaha, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring who is also an advisor to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. Warring took it upon himself to corner Transport Minister Razia Sultana on at least two occasions over the failure of the government to come out with a transport policy and also over the free run enjoyed by officials posted in the transport department.
The united manner in which the Congress MLAs rose as one to take on the bureaucracy over the issue of VIP rooms in Punjab Bhawan in New Delhi, reflected the growing anger against the bureaucracy. Congress MLAs joined hands with AAP legislators to show their massive resentment against the IAS officers who enjoyed better perks than them even though the MLAs ranked higher in protocol.
The angst against Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh and Advocate General Atul Nanda was all the more palpable because they were the only persons who were referred to by their designation or their name in the entire episode. Power Purchase Agreements signed with private power producers by the previous SAD-BJP government have been in the thick of controversy for the past several weeks now and it was not surprising to find Congress MLA from Jalandhar Cantonment, Pargat Singh, trashing the White Paper on the issue which has been promised by Amarinder in the Monsoon Session.
On the last day of the session, Pargat let loose a volley of charges saying that while committees, sub-committees and White Papers are being talked about, the politicians are losing face value before the common man. Equally scathing were Pargat's remarks on the government inaction in the Guru Granth Sahib desecration issue where he attacked the government for not having acted in the matter. On the sand mining issue too, apart from the opposition, it was a Congress MLA who voiced his concern.
