Punjab CM Amarinder Singh flays opposition parties for 'wasting time, money'

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday lambasted the opposition for what he said was "wasting public money and precious time of the assembly" by disrupting Question Hour and not allowing the assembly to function.

The Assembly proceedings earlier saw the opposition Aam Aadmi Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) accusing each other of involvement in the drugs racket in Punjab.

Talking to the media outside the Vidhan Sabha after the opposition disrupted house proceedings, the Chief Minister said the SAD and AAP had turned the "sacrosanct precincts of the assembly into an `akhara` (wrestling arena)."

"It is against legislative traditions to disrupt Question Hour, during which serious public issues are taken up. The Opposition should have raised any of their concerns during Zero Hour," the Chief Minister said, after the assembly was adjourned for 30 minutes due to repeated disturbances by slogan-shouting opposition legislators who stormed the well of the house.

Amarinder Singh said the drugs case allegedly involving AAP leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira, the Leader of Opposition in the assembly, was pending in the courts whereas the allegations against SAD`s Bikram Singh Majithia were under probe by multiple agencies like the Enforcement Directorate, the Narcotics Control Bureau and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.

The Chief Minister said he had not given any `clean chit` to Majithia over his alleged involvement in the drugs racket.

"The two opposition parties are fighting, instead of taking up meaningful issues for discussion in public interest." 

Amarinder Singh said that on the one hand the AAP was demanding a longer assembly session, but on the other hand it was wasting time, adding that the AAP leaders had resorted to similar disruptions during the last assembly session also.

"The opposition is out to gain cheap publicity at the cost of public money. The exchequer loses Rs 70 lakh due to loss of one day of assembly business. These unparliamentary acts of the opposition members are in total violation of legislative propriety and constitutional norms and ethics," he added.