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Journalism of Courage
As Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann moved a confidence motion in the state Assembly Tuesday, the upcoming elections in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat were in the spotlight. There were also dramatic scenes outside the Punjab Assembly, with a new-look Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has a slew of former Congress leaders in its fold now, holding a mock session, “Janta di Vidhan Sabha”, that even had a make-shift stage for the “Chair”.
Last week, a major row had erupted between the Mann-led AAP government and Governor Banwarilal Purohit after the latter withdrew permission to the government for holding a special Assembly session on September 22 to bring a confidence motion only. The Mann government then pushed for another session beginning September 27 and sought the Governor’s approval for it, with Purohit then asking the government to send him the agenda for the proposed session. An angry CM Mann responded by saying that it was “too much” and that the Governor’s clearance to a state cabinet’s recommendation for an Assembly session was a “mere formality”. The nearly week-long stalemate finally ended with the Governor giving the green signal to the session last Sunday.
Mann tabled the confidence motion in the absence of the members of the principal Opposition Congress, who were named and suspended by Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan for protesting in the House. In his speech, Mann accused the Congress of joining hands with the BJP to harm the AAP’s prospects in the coming Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat elections.
“That is why the (Congress party’s) Bharat Jodo Yatra does not pass through Himachal and Gujarat,’’ Mann told the House. In Gujarat, his Delhi counterpart and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal has maintained that the battle in the December state polls will be fought between the ruling BJP and the AAP as the Congress had become a “spent force” there. The AAP has however not said the same about the Congress’s prospects in the November Himachal polls since the grand old party had won three Assembly and one Lok Sabha seats in the bypolls held in November 2021 in the hill state.
Speaking to media persons outside the Punjab Assembly, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Raja Amarinder Singh Warring hit back, charging that “AAP is the B-team of BJP…BJP is poaching Congress legislators but it will never poach AAP legislators who helped it win Uttarakhand”.
Inside the Assembly, 18 Congress MLAs were suspended for the day for protesting against the confidence vote, which will now come up for voting on October 3, while the two BJP legislators, including state party chief Ashwani Sharma, walked out in protest and joined the mock session being held by his party colleagues outside.
The BJP’s mock session, which had ex-deputy Speaker Ajaib Singh Bhatti, playing the “role” of Speaker, was attended by several new entrants to the saffron party, mostly from Congress, including Sunil Jakhar, former PPCC chief, who led the charge against the AAP government.
Speaking on the occasion, Jakhar slammed the Mann government over its “unfulfilled” promises, charging that its “remote control” has been in the hands of Kejriwal. He also accused it of allegedly using the state funds to “promote” the AAP in poll-bound Himachal and Gujarat. Waving a sheaf of papers, including an ADR report on AAP legislators with criminal cases, he claimed that the ruling party’s trust vote was in fact a no-confidence motion against its own MLAs.
Among other participants in the mock session, Raj Kumar Verka, former Congress MLA from Amritsar, spoke on the lack of housing for Dalits, while former Ferozepur legislator Rana Gurmeet Sodhi raised farmers’ issues. Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa dwelt on corruption, while Parmider Brar, once a close aide of Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) leader Bikram Majithia, cited RTI reports as he gunned for the AAP government. On his part, Bhatti sought to play his role earnestly, urging the participants to conclude their speeches or stop beating around the bush.
In the Punjab Assembly polls held in February this year, the BJP, contesting without its erstwhile ally SAD (B) for the first time, had its worst-ever showing, winning only two seats in the 117-member House. However, despite its poll decimation, the party has been seeing a steady stream of ex-Congress leaders joining its ranks, the latest being former CM Capt Amarinder Singh, who however skipped the mock session, the BJP’s muscle-flexing exercise, which marked the first major public outing as saffron party leaders for several Congress leaders.
