Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann hit out at the Congress Tuesday, alleging that the party was in an "unnatural nexus" with the BJP in Punjab as both the opposition parties were trying to disrupt the special session of the state assembly.
His outburst came after Congress MLAs began protesting when CM Mann tried to move the confidence motion in the assembly. As the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) moved the motion, the BJP staged a walkout from the House and the Congress legislators had to be escorted out following Speaker's direction.
"Today the unnatural nexus between the Congress and the BJP has been exposed. It is natural that the (opposition) BJP is not allowing us to speak in the House, but the opposition by the Congress raises serious suspicions about their backdoor alliance with the BJP," Mann told ANI.
The chief minister also criticised Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Partap Singh Bajwa. He alleged, "Partap Bajwa has an ulterior motive. He had said he won't let the House run. He wants to sit on a higher chair. The failure of 'Operation Lotus' has not gone well with Partap Bajwa."
"We wanted to expose the murderers of democracy -- BJP -- about their failed 'Operation Lotus'. They are not letting public representatives expose their 'Operation Lotus' in the House.
Congress and BJP, together, are disrupting the House and not allowing those who have public support to speak. The BJP talks about sabka saath, sabka vishwas, but where is vishwas," Mann said.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said the ruling dispensation called the House session on three issues related to GST, power and stubble burning. "But they didn't talk about it," Warring said. "They have misled the House, the Governor and the people of Punjab. If they want to prove confidence, they should dissolve the House and go for fresh polls."
Previously, Governor Banwarilal Purohit allowed the Punjab government to convene a one-day assembly session on September 27, Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan had said on Twitter.
The assembly session was initially set to be held on September 22. But the governor withdrew his permission a day before the date, saying in a letter to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Secretary that there's "no specific provision regarding the summoning of the assembly" for considering confidence motion only.
Earlier, the governor had asked the AAP government for details of the legislative agenda to be carried out during the special session, but the government responded that no governor had ever asked a state government for its legislative work in the past 75 years. Governor Purohit advised the AAP government to "read the Constitution".
( With inputs from ANI )
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