Hitting out at the Opposition for “playing dirty politics” at a time when Punjab was going through a critical period, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said the one-day session convened by his government was a Constitutional requirement, as clearly mentioned in the official announcement.
Contrary to the SAD allegation, the “cruel joke” on the people was not by his government, but by SAD president Sukhbir Badal, whose “pathetic record” in attendance in the Assembly as an MLA showed how little importance he gave to the House and its sessions, alleged the Chief Minister. From March 2017 to May 2019, when he was the MLA, Sukhbir attended the House for only 16 of the 40 days in session, he pointed out.
He said both the SAD and AAP seemed bent on playing with the sentiments of the people whose only concern at present was to protect themselves from the pandemic, which was peaking in Punjab and could play havoc with the state before stabilising.
Pointing out that several ministers, MLAs and officials were currently either Covid-positive or in quarantine, the Chief Minister said either Sukhbir was ignorant of the ground situation or simply did not care. With 34,400 people in the state tested positive so far and 898 deaths, the situation was grim, he noted. His government, said Capt Amarinder, was more interested in dealing with this grave problem at the moment.
