Chandigarh, March 6
Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab government, stating that the conduct of its own cabinet ministers during the Governor’s Address has exposed the hollowness, confusion and deep contradictions within the ruling dispensation.
Bajwa said that in an unprecedented development in Punjab’s legislative history, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and Cabinet Minister Aman Arora walked out of the Assembly while the Governor’s Address was still in progress and rushed outside the House to hold an impromptu press conference. According to Bajwa, the hurried media interaction was clearly aimed at diverting attention and preventing Congress leaders from presenting their views before the media after the party boycotted the address.
“This bizarre spectacle has rarely been witnessed in the legislative history of Punjab. At a time when the Governor was formally addressing the Assembly, two senior ministers of the ruling government chose to abandon the House and rush to the media. Such conduct not only reflects confusion within the government but also exposes its inability to defend its own record,” Bajwa said.
The Congress party had boycotted the Governor’s Address as a mark of protest against what it described as the repeated failures and broken promises of the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led government. Bajwa pointed out that in a strange twist, AAP ministers Aman Arora and Harpal Cheema appeared to follow the Congress line by walking out themselves instead of remaining in the House to defend their government.
“If the AAP government claims that everything is functioning smoothly in Punjab, then what was the extraordinary urgency that forced its own ministers to desert the Assembly in the middle of the Governor’s Address? Why could the press conference not wait until the proceedings were over? Their actions clearly demonstrate nervousness and an inability to defend the government’s performance,” Bajwa added.
Bajwa said the AAP government has no credible answers to the serious questions being raised by the Punjab Congress regarding governance failures and unfulfilled commitments. He said the ruling party had come to power in 2022 by making tall promises to the people of Punjab, but nearly four years later those promises remain largely unfulfilled.
“The list of failures of the AAP government is so long that it cannot be counted in a single day. From deteriorating law and order to unemployment, the drug menace and collapsing governance, the government has failed to deliver on every major promise it made to the people,” he said.
Commenting on the protest staged by AAP minister Harbhajan Singh ETO along with band players near the Vidhan Sabha complex, Bajwa termed the incident deeply disturbing and raised serious concerns about the breach of security at the Assembly premises.
“It is shameful that in its desperation, the AAP government compromised the security of the Vidhan Sabha by allowing unauthorized persons to enter a restricted and highly sensitive area. This is a grave lapse. I have written to the Hon’ble Governor requesting that an inquiry be ordered so that responsibility can be fixed,” Bajwa said.
Later in the day, Bajwa joined a protest along with Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and other Congress leaders and workers. Addressing the gathering, he said the Congress party would continue to raise the voice of the people both inside and outside the Assembly and would hold the AAP government accountable for its failures.
During the protest, Bajwa along with several other Congress leaders was detained by the police and taken to Sector 11 Police Station. Bajwa said such actions would not deter the Congress from continuing its democratic struggle for the rights and security of the people of Punjab.
