Mann slams Oppn for disrupting guv’s address: Running away from core issues in Cong’s DNA, says CM Mann

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday, the second day of the budget session in the assembly, slammed Opposition MLAs for disruption of governor’s address on the opening day of the session on March 1 and demanded a discussion in the House.

Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, on the request of AAP MLAs, allowed the discussion on the disruption of the governor’s address, in a departure from the practice of taking up the ‘question hour’ and ‘zero hour’ at the beginning of a session. Winding up the discussion on the governor’s address, Mann said, “Running away from the core issues is in the DNA of the Congress and the state party unit is following the trend.”

Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit’s address to the state assembly on the opening day of the budget session on March 1 was disrupted by the opposition Congress MLAs, who raised the issues of protesting farmers and resorted to sloganeering. Amid the uproar, Purohit had cut short his address. He read out a few lines and told the House that the rest of it be deemed as read.

Mann said, “When the Union budget session was going on, the top leader of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, was wandering in Chhattisgarh’s forests. He should have been in Parliament rather than holding Bharat Jodo Yatra. I remained a member of Parliament twice and we should sit in Parliament even till 11 pm because you never know when you will have to speak on an important issue. But boycotting and walking out has become culture among the Congress,” said Mann.

Ask Gandhis to stall seat sharing talks with AAP: Mann to Bajwa

He asked Bajwa to tell the central leadership of the Congress not to “bother” giving seats to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. “On the one hand, you are making agreements (on seat sharing) with us. Go and tell them (Sonia and Rahul Gandhi) not to give Kurukshetra, Delhi and Gujarat (Lok Sabha) seats to us,” Mann said.

The chief minister said the Congress is now on its knees and is daily requesting the AAP to forge an alliance with it.

Taking on the Congress, Mann said such is the plight and non-seriousness of the Congress that when Rahul came to Punjab for Bharat Jodo Yatra, first demand made by the organisers from the state government for the security of the yatra was that nobody from the public should be allowed to come near Rahul.

“Such was the adamant attitude of the security guarding Rahul Gandhi that even Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring was manhandled twice to keep him away from Gandhi. In the rest of the yatra, Warring had to wear a shirt with his name on it,” said the chief minister.

Mann said in the national capital Delhi, the Congress does not even have an MLA or a member of Parliament. “At this stage, they are begging us (Aam Aadmi Party) to give two-three seats to them in Delhi. What can be more embarrassing than this,” said Mann. He said Punjab Congress has 17 members in the House, but they have four to five different groups. Attacking Navjot Sidhu, Mann equated him with a goods train that chugged from Kathua towards Punjab without a driver.

The chief minister said the Congress is like an “old model Fiat car”, which cannot be updated as per the modern requirements. Quoting his recent discussions with former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav during a meeting, Mann claimed that Akhilesh told him that during deliberations on seat sharing for Lok Sabha in UP, the Congress sought a seat for a candidate who had died over nine years ago.

Mann said the Opposition leaders are least bothered about the state or its people and their only aim is to grab political power by hook or crook.

He said in the past two years, the state government has taken unprecedented steps for the welfare of people. He said the Opposition are only concerned about attaining power and are least bothered about the wellbeing of people or the prosperity of people.

The chief minister said the state is witnessing a new era as parents are now shifting their kids to government schools from private ones.

He said people of the state have made up their mind to give all 13 Lok Sabha seats to the AAP so that impetus can be given to the ongoing development.