Sukhbir’s presence in House 29.5 per cent, asked 10 questions in 13 sessionsOur Members of Parliament (MPs) are rather shy of speaking in the august house. Going by the records of the Lok Sabha, these elite politicians have done little for the cause of the people, or taken up their issues at national level. HELP, an NGO based at Nawanshahr, had sought information under RTI about the working of three MPs in the 14th Lok Sabha - Sukhbir Badal of Akali Dal, Avinash Rai Khanna of BJP, and Rana Gurjit Singh of Congress.The records pertaining to these three MPs and others, available on the Parliament’s website, reveal that BJP has an edge over both Akalis and the Congress, when it comes to asking questions in the house over public issues.According to Parvinder Singh Kitan of HELP, Sukhbir Badal, a major contender for the post of CM Punjab, has asked just ten questions on the floor of the house in the 14th Lok Sabha - in all of its 13 sessions. His presence is the house is as low as 29.5 per cent. On an average, Sukhbir did not ask even one question per session. He was granted Rs 9 crore under the MP Local Area Development (LAD) fund.BJP MP Avinash Rai Khanna from Hoshiarpur asked 279 questions, which means 20 questions per session, on an average. His presence in the house is recorded at 87 per cent. Rai asked the maximum question among all MPs from the state.Rana Gurjit Singh of Congress asked only ten questions in all 13 sessions, and could get only Rs 6 crore under the MPLAD fund despite the Congress-led government at the centre.The information about other MPs of Punjab procured from the website of the Parliament reveals that Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, the MP from Ludhiana, did not ask even a single question in the entire five years on the floor of the house. Preneet Kaur of Congress asked just seven questions; Vinod Khanna of BJP asked four questions; Paramjit Kaur Gulshan of Akali Dal had 21 questions; Rattan Singh Ajnala 44 questions; Zora Singh Mann nine questions; Sukhdv Singh Dhindsa 123 questions; Sukhdev Singh Libra of Ropar asked 70 questions, and Navjot Singh Sidhu of BJP asked 223 questions.Put together, the three BJP MPs from Punjab asked 502 questions in the 14th Lok Sabha. The seven Akali Dal MPs just asked 277 questions, while the two Congress MPs asked only 17 questions.Kitna questioned that if these leaders cannot raise the voice of the people on the floor of the house, why do they seek votes from the people.According to the website, Sukhdev Singh Libra had a 96.8 per cent presence in the Lok Sabha sessions; Sukhbir Singh Badal (from Faridkot) 29.5 per cent, Paramjit Kaur Gulshan (Bathinda) 75.8 per cent; Navjot Singh Sidhu (Amritsar) 31.9 per cent; Avinash Rai Khanna (Hoshiarpur) 87 per cent; Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (Sangrur) 69.2 per cent; Vinod Khanna (Gurdaspur) 52.14 per cent; Zora Singh Mann (Firozepur) 64.5 per cent; Rattan Singh Ajnala (Tarn Taran) 85. 9 per cent; Sharanjit Singh Dhillon (Ludhiana) 43.5 per cent.
