Chandigarh, June 23: Upset over the treatment meted out to legislators by assembly staff on Thursday, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiromani Akali Dal members on Friday walked out of the Punjab assembly on the last day of the budget session.
The AAP and Akali Dal legislators sought an apology from assembly Speaker Rana KP Singh for Thursday’s incidents in which turbans of two AAP legislators were tossed and some legislators were injured.
Carrying placards, the AAP MLAs, along with ally Lok Insaaf Party legislators, held a mock assembly outside the House.
The Akali Dal legislators, led by party president Sukhbir Singh Badal, wore black tunics on top of their clothes as a mark of protest against Thursday’s incidents of manhandling of legislators.
The Akali Dal legislators raised slogans against the Speaker and the Congress government.
Sukhbir called upon chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh to dismiss the Speaker and apologise to the Sikh community for the turban-tossing incidents.
The Punjab assembly referred the denigration of the Speaker by Sukhbir to a privilege committee. State parliamentary affairs minister Brahm Mohindra moved a breach of privilege motion on Thursday, seeking action against Opposition MLAs.
The ruling Congress, which has 77 legislators in the 117-member assembly, earlier issued a whip to its legislators to be present in the House on Friday as important bills are to be tabled. The Budget session, which began on June 14, has been a noisy one.
Two AAP legislators, Manjit Singh and Sarvjit Kaur Manuke, were injured and the turbans of AAP MLA Pirmal Singh and Manjit were tossed amid commotion when the watch and ward staff of the assembly physically removed them from the House on the Speaker’s orders.
Manuke and Manjit Singh were taken out of the assembly building on stretchers and rushed to the Government Medical Superspecialty Hospital in Sector 16, Chandigarh.
Manuke fell unconscious after she was allegedly hit on the head during a scuffle with the marshals. Manjit Singh was also injured in the melee.
The Shiromani Akali Dal supported the AAP on this issue.
News Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com
