Chandigarh, March 20: The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on Monday decided on an aggressive but constructive strategy to expose the Akalis and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the floor of the House during the ongoing Budget Session of the Vidhan Sabha.
The CLP meeting, convened by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, decided to force the Akalis’ hand in the House on the various issues on which they had unleashed a false propaganda campaign against the government. There was unanimity in the need to use the social media more aggressively to counter the fraudulent information being spread by them to mislead the people.
Directing the party MLAs to go all out to expose the Akali `pol’ on the floor of the House, the Chief Minister, while reiterating his stand that his government will not indulge in any political vendetta, made it clear to the members that the misdeeds of the Akalis would not go unpunished and those found guilty of any wrongs against the people of Punjab would be punished under the law.
Captain Amarinder directed the members to use the government’s achievements, of which they were provided a list at the CLP meeting, to counter the Opposition’s deceitful propaganda. The members should, in particular, highlight the clean governance provided to Punjab by the Congress government, he added.
The Chief Minister also instructed the members to ensure proper coordination to take on the Opposition in the House. The meeting discussed ways of smooth floor management in order to protect the sanctity of the august House and also ensure that the taxpayers’ money is not allowed to be wasted by a disruptive Opposition.
Pointing out that the Treasury benches were well aware of the issues likely to be raised by the Opposition, the Chief Minister asked the MLAs to be well prepared with facts and data to counter the same. The task of speaking in the House on the issue of illegal sand mining was assigned to Raja Warring.
Health Minister Brahm Mohindra underlined the need for the Congress to seize the advantage resulting from the fact that both the SAD and AAP were busy trading allegations and counter allegations in the charged political environment.
Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi was of the opinion that the Congress should shame AAP during Zero Hour over Arvind Kejriwal’s apology, which amounted to violation of the trust of the people of Punjab.
Local Government Minister Navjot Singh stressed the need to spread the message about the government’s numerous achievements among the masses. “We have achievement in a year what the SAD-BJP combine could not do in 10 years,” he added.
A suggestion was mooted by some members to compare the first year of the Captain Amarinder government with the first year of the erstwhile SAD-BJP government.
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Sunil Jakhar wanted a tough message to go to the Akalis not to take the government’s policy of non-vindictiveness as a sign of its weakness. The Akalis should speak on the floor of the House or go to the courts in support of their allegations against the Congress government instead of causing problems for the ordinary citizens with their dharnas and rallies, he added.
