The Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab had reason to be satisfied at the end of the four-day Assembly session, during which it moved a “trust vote”. First, it got Governor Banwarilal Purohit to agree to the session after he had denied it first when it was termed as "special session" only to table the motion of confidence; second, even as it did not mention trust vote in the list of business of the session, presumably to get the Governor's nod, it went ahead and held the same; and third, the more the Opposition protested, the more ineffectual it looked. And yes, the AAP government won the trust vote, comprehensively, with no digression from party lines. While it was an exercise more in showboating than anything else, given AAP's overwhelming majority in the Punjab Assembly, the party had proved its point – like it did in Delhi earlier – that it stood united despite “attempts to break it (read by the BJP)”. The BJP at least cut its losses by telling its two MLAs to stay out after the first few hours of the proceedings indicated how the session would progress. However, the Congress, with 18 MLAs, put up a spirited show which, in turn, was projected by AAP as a “waste of resources and the time of the House” by the former ruling party. As much as Rs 70 lakh-Rs 80 lakh was spent daily on the Vidhan Sabha session, Sandhwan told the Congress. Incidentally, after the AAP government announced its plans for a trust vote, alleging a plan to overthrow its government, the Opposition had accused it of “wasting the taxpayers’ money” when no one was asking it to prove its majority. Congress MLAs faithfully kept trooping down to the Well of the House, and kept being named by the Speaker and either stormed out, or were removed. There were bouts of verbal duel between the Congress leaders and Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, with the former accusing him of not allowing them to raise issues and seek answers. However, an unperturbed Sandhwan chided them, telling them to behave and help him run the House and to “address problems of their voters”. Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa of the Congress made several submissions to Sandhwan to hold Zero Hour before the final discussions and the voting on the trust vote, but was denied even that, with Sandhwan saying that as Speaker, it was his prerogative as to how to run the House. A two-time MLA from Kotkapura, Sandhwan took the political plunge only in 2017 on AAP ticket. However, he has a political legacy behind him, as the grand-nephew of former President Giani Zail Singh. If the BJP MLAs only attended the session for a brief period on the first day, the 3 Akali Dal MLAs and lone BSP MLA kept largely quiet through the House drama. With the Congress holding up the Opposition end alone, AAP MLAs asked whether it was indeed the “B team of the BJP” in the latter's ‘Operation Lotus’ to topple its government. Both the Congress and Akali Dal mocked AAP's repeated claims that the BJP was offering as much as Rs 25 crore to each of its MLAs to switch sides, calling it a “gimmick” by AAP to divert attention from the fact that it had “not fulfilled pre-poll promises” in Punjab. The Opposition parties also accused AAP of staging the “drama” for mileage in the coming Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, where AAP is hoping to make inroads. This gave an opening to AAP to attack the Congress over the fact that it were Congress leaders who had been moving in bulk to the BJP in other states, “including Punjab”, causing its governments to fall. Joining the debate, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said none of the Congress leaders raised a voice when its MLAs were wooed by the BJP and “democracy was taken for a ride”. He went on to take a jibe that someone had told him that the Congress should open a head office with the tagline “Here elected MLAs are sold cheap”. The Opposition accused the Mann government of bringing in the trust vote via the “back door” after calling for the session citing a need to discuss issues like the GST, stubble burning and the power scenario in the state. But, AAP pressed ahead, and all its 91 MLAs (barring the Speaker) voted in favour of it. Apart from the Congress's 18 and the BJP's 2, there are 3 Akali Dal MLAs, and one each of the BSP and an Independent in the 117-member Assembly - all of them refrained from casting their vote. There were some moments of embarrassment for AAP though, when the Congress raised an audio tape purportedly showing minister Fauja Singh Sarari planning an "extortion" bid. Congress MLAs sought Sarari's dismissal, the registration of an FIR against him, and a statement by Mann on the floor of the house. Towards the end, the Congress got another issue to attack the AAP government, when a dreaded gangster, Deepak Tinu, escaped from police custody. Tinu was among those chargesheeted in singer Sidhu Moosewala's killing. However, the AAP government brushed off all such issues.
