Protest in Punjab Assembly over seating issues
Chandigarh: Members of the ruling Congress and the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly today engaged in a war of words over LIP members not taking seats allotted to them by the Speaker. During a discussion on the Finance Bill moved by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, Rana Gurjit Singh Sodhi of the Congress sought action against LIP members and brothers Simarjeet Singh Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains for taking seats other than those alloted to them by Speaker Rana Kanwar Pal Singh. The Bains brothers were sitting in the front row of Opposition benches along with Aam Aadmi Party legislators. Leader of Opposition and AAP MLA H S Phoolka told the House that on his party's request, the Speaker had, during a meeting in his chamber, allowed them to sit anywhere on the Opposition benchs. "Why the government is so afraid of the Bains brothers sitting with the AAP MLAs?" he asked. To this, the Speaker said he had allowed the duo to occupy any seat on the Opposition benches with a rider that if they take seats other than those marked for them, they will not be allowed to speak in the House. AAP Chief Whip Sukhpal Singh Khaira said there was a pre-poll alliance between the AAP and the LIP. "We should get seats together as we need to devise floor strategies," he said. Citing an example, he said members of the Shiromani Akali Dal and its ally, the BJP, used to sit on Treasury benches together in the previous term. Intervening, Raja Amrinder Singh Warring of the Congress said even he wanted to discuss a matter with the CM and whether he would get a seat "close to the Leader of House". The Speaker later rejected the plea of the AAP and LIP members to allow the Bains brothers to speak on the Finance Bill from the front row of the Opposition benches. Agitated, the AAP and LIP MLAs later protested in the Well of the House and shouted slogans against the Speaker. The Speaker, however, continued with the proceedings of House and after the passage of a bill, he adjourned the Assembly sine die.
