Chandigarh, September 14
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab senior leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Harpal Singh Cheema has demanded the Punjab government to convene a session of the Assembly immediately. According to Cheema, issues related to the farmers, laborers, traders, employees and the unemployed need to be discussed in detail in the Assembly; as this pending monsoon session would be the last session of the present government.
In a statement issued from the party headquarters here on Tuesday, Harpal Singh Cheema said, “On September 3, there was a special session of the Vidhan Sabha dedicated to the 400th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur; which cannot be technically or constitutionally linked to the monsoon session. In a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) held before the commencement of the special session on that day, Honorable Speaker Rana KP Singh had assured that the session would be reconvened in 15-20 days in which all pending issues would be discussed. Therefore, a 15-day session should be called immediately.”
Cheema said the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is a democratic body in which the elected representatives of the people discuss and solve the problems of the people of the state. He doubted that the government was running away from the assembly session as promised; as the government was running away from its responsibility and accountability on public issues. “Due to such an attitude of the government, the democratic system in Punjab is in danger today as the session of the Punjab Assembly is not being convened by the Captain government as per the constitutional provisions and scheduled meetings are not being held,” he said. Cheema alleged that the Captain government wanted to keep the issues of Punjab under pressure and was depriving the elected representatives of the right to discuss.
“Punjab and its people are in big trouble. There are all kinds of mafia going on in Punjab and ensnared the youth in drugs. Industries are going out, crops are being ruined by counterfeit medicines and there is a shortage of fertilizers. A session of the Punjab Assembly must be convened for a joint discussion to resolve these issues,” said Harpal Singh Cheema.
Reiterating the demand for a 15-day live telecast session, the AAP leader said if a session of the Punjab Assembly is convened, two days should be set aside for discussion on issues related to the farmers and each political party will be able to present its views. Apart from this, there are many other issues of the workers, laborers, small shopkeepers, industrialists, students and other sections which need to be considered in the Assembly.
Cheema alleged that Capt Amarinder Singh’s government had not fulfilled any of its election promises. He said due to this, today the land of Punjab has become a land of dharnas, employees of all the departments of the Punjab government are protesting day and night and Punjab industrialists are shifting their industries to other states. But instead of solving the problems of the people, the Congress government is trying to mislead them with new tricks and is running away from convening a session of the Vidhan Sabha for a common solution to the problems of the people, he asserted.
