Chandigarh, March 22: The Congress on Wednesday cornered the SAD on Panthic issues, including incidents of sacrilege in 2015 and its “failure” to effectively raise the issue of withdrawing GST on langar purchases at the Golden Temple.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh announced in the House that the state government would forego its share of GST (50 per cent) on langar purchases.
A resolution was passed unanimously to seek a similar waiver from the Centre. The state extended the waiver on GST to the Durgiana Mandir and Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal.
Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said it was the BJP-dominated GST Council that had thrice rejected the state government’s proposal on waiver. “For a party that claims control over the Panth, you (SAD) should break your alliance with the BJP on this issue and recall your party’s minister from the NDA government,” he said.
The move to refund the state’s share of GST on langar found support from the AAP MLAs too.
Congress MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and AAP legislators Sukhpal Khaira and Kultar Singh Sandhwan targeted the Akali Dal over the sacrilege cases and then Akali-BJP government’s “refusal” to share CCTV footage of the Bargari incident with the Justice Zora Singh Commission.
“You had something to hide. That’s why the FIR regarding the firing incident was registered against ‘unidentified cops’,” said Sandhwan.
Randhawa also accused the SAD of appointing “puppets and tankhaiye” as the SGPC president. He said gangsters fled from jails earlier, but the Congress arrested them. He also raised the issue of fake FIRs registered against Congress workers when the Akalis were in power.
Business interests of the Badals were also raised by him. Khaira exhorted the CM to act against the Akalis. Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, former CM Parkash Singh Badal and former minister Bikram Majithia were not present when these events unfolded.
Earlier, during Question Hour, Akali MLAs led by Sukhbir came dressed in black robes, raising slogans demanding complete loan waiver for farmers. The pandemonium towards the fag-end of Question Hour led to the adjournment of the House for 30 minutes.
Badal, too, stepped into the well of the House as the coalition MLAs raised slogans on farmers’ issues. But the Badal duo and Majithia did not return to the House later.
This left 14-odd SAD-BJP MLAs in a tight spot after the House proceedings resumed and Randhawa led the discussion.
They came up with feeble replies to Randhawa’s charges pertaining to the alliance’s 10-year rule. In the evening session, they raised issues of farmers and Dalits.
Source Tribune India
