Monsoon session of Punjab Assembly: SAD-BJP govt fails to address key issues

On key issues such as the distress of farmers due to the whitefly attack on cotton crops, distribution of wheat, sugar and kerosene to the poor sections of society, the ruling combine was found wanting in their replies.

[related-post]

It was also a session where the Food and Supplies Minister Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon was left virtually fending for himself even as the Congress, led by Leader of Opposition Sunil Kumar Jhakar, mounted a scathing attack on him. Contrary to instances where the CM sprang to the defence of beleaguered members of his council of ministers, no one defended Kairon.

Ill-prepared ministers who had not anticipated follow-up questions also made a poor impression. For the second consecutive session, the issue of scholarships to schedule caste and backward class students of the state was raised and remained unresolved. The concerned minister, Gulzar Singh Ranike, failed to go beyond reeling out figures and was unable to answer specific queries of the Opposition.

If the opposition blitzkrieg was not enough, the government was embarrassed on the private universities Bill. MLAs from SAD and BJP joined the Congress in deploring the state of education in private institutes in the state. Here again, the ruling combine did not learn any lessons from previous sessions when exactly the same objections were raised and went unheard.

The Chief Minister’s intervention in the House was very limited as compared to previous sessions even as the Deputy Chief Minister stayed away from the House on the opening and closing day. Barring some mild statements, Sukhbir Badal, did not take any active part in the proceedings.

The Congress on its part seemed to have fine tuned its floor strategy to a large extent and gave up on the extensive use of walk-outs and slogan shouting which they had resorted to earlier. Barring an instance of walk-out over supply of sugar and kerosene, and forcing an adjournment over the drugs issue, the Congress stayed put in the house, even though it beat a hasty retreat after the Sekhri episode.

For its successes in the assembly, the Congress had clearly deputed some MLAs to spearhead the campaign and who, ultimately, carried the day for them. The most active Congress MLAs being Charanjit Channi, Kuljit Singh Nagra, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Tarlochan Singh and Sunil Jakhar.

However, despite its advantages during the session, the blatant infighting in the party which came to fore in the Sekhri episode has not done it any good.