Chandigarh: Perhaps for the first time in the history Punjab vidhan sabha, independent MLAs Balwinder Singh Bains and Simarjit Singh Bains, who last week launched Awaz-e-Punjab along with Navjot Singh Sidhu and Pargat Singh, were thrown out of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha complex. They were lifted by the watch and ward staff for disrupting House proceedings and thrown out of the Vidhan Sabha.
The trouble began after zero hour when Simarjit pushed for a private member's resolution on Punjab not claiming royalty from Rajasthan for its river waters. Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal disallowed the resolution. He wanted the House to discuss BR Ambedkar's contribution to the Constitution as part of his 125th birth anniversary celebrations instead. Simarjit continued to speak on the issue and was warned he would have to leave the House. The MLA paid no heed.
The Speaker then asked the ward and watch staff to take him away. Balwinder too rose from his seat in solidarity with his brother. Papers in hand, the Bains brothers rushed into the well of the House even as Congress MLAs seemed unsure whether or not to join their protest.
Thrown out, the Bains brothers approached mediapersons at the press gallery. Just then 60-odd policemen in mufti and the watch and ward staff gathered there, listening carefully to what the MLAs had to say. The brothers talked about the “repressive Badal government” and its "high-handedness."
Later, Simarjit tried to re-enter the House but was prevented from doing so. In protest, he sat outside the main entrance and raised slogans against the government. The brothers said since 1965, Rajasthan was being supplied 11.2 MAF of Punjab’s river waters. However, no rate had been fixed for the same. Accusing the Badals of deliberately not raising the issue with the Rajasthan Government "as the family owns land in Rajasthan," they claimed the accumulated dues came to a staggering £153.44 billion.
