2 days ago
Punjab assembly's sitting over, but not their war of words: Mann-Bajwa barbs continue outside house
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Chandigarh: Punjab chief minister
Bhagwant Mann
and leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa continued to trade barbs outside the legislative on Monday, even as the debate on the anti-sacrilege Bill was postponed to Tuesday, the concluding day of the special assembly session.
Speaking to media after the day's sitting, Mann criticised the opposition. "I presented the bill as the state home minister. It was being reported in the media that the bill is coming up, but leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa still said he did not have adequate information," said Mann.
He added it was sad that Bajwa did not have information on sacrilege incidents in Bargari, Kot Kapura, and Jawaharke. "It is like a school student taking the alibi that he forgot the notebook at home.
They come without proper homework. I hope whoever speaks on the issue, speaks from his heart. I hope that the bill will be unanimously passed. Punjab will be the first state to enact such a law. The Congress was not prepared today, hope they will come prepared tomorrow," he said.
On the other hand, Bajwa slammed AAP govt for convening the special session without adequate preparation. He said that MLAs needed time to study the draft bill.
"AAP promised to deliver justice, but it couldn't prepare the draft bill in its first three years. A similar bill was unanimously passed in 2018," he said. "MLAs received the draft 15 minutes before its tabling. These are technical and legal matters," he added.
Responding to Mann's comments, Bajwa said the CM needed to be serious on the issue. "The point for holding discussion on the bill on Tuesday was made in the meeting of representatives of all parties. It was the view of other parties as well," he added. He also noted that his party had sought a two-day extension of the special assembly session to discuss the land pooling policy and the issue of law and order, but no time had been allocated to these issues.
