Sanjha Morcha

Row over who sits in House front row AAP protests no seat for 2 LIP MLAs

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 23

With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today rejecting the seats allocated to its MLAs and its ally, the Lok Insaaf Party (LIP), a confrontation seems inevitable on the opening day of the newly constituted 14th  Vidhan Sabha tomorrow.Pro tem Speaker Rana Kanwar Pal Singh will take a decision on the matter in consultation with Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh before the start of the session.   AAP will decide its course thereafter.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)The conflict is regarding the 12 seats in the first row. AAP legislators are upset that no seat has been allocated to the Lok Insaaf Party in this row. The party has two MLAs — Balwinder Singh Bains and younger brother Simarjit Singh.The House has seating arrangements in three blocks — treasury benches on the Speaker’s right,  where the 77 Congress MLAs will be seated; the opposite block for the Opposition MLAs and the block facing the Speaker’s chair for other parties/Independents or members of the ruling party, in case there are not enough seats in the main block. AAP has 20 MLAs, the second highest, while the Akalis have 15. Both will get seats in the Opposition rows but AAP’s HS Phoolka, being the Leader of the Opposition, will be seated opposite the CM. AAP has been allotted five seats in the front row, the Akalis four and the BJP two. One seat is reserved for the Deputy Speaker. The LIP has been allotted two seats in the third block. The Bains brothers had occupied seats in this block as Independents in the last House as well.Phoolka told The Tribune he had rejected the seat arrangement. “The Lok Insaaf Party  had a pre-poll alliance with AAP as had the Akalis with the BJP.  If they can be seated together and their senior leaders allotted seats in the front row, why not AAP and LIP leaders?” he asked.Phoolka, contending that AAP and it ally would have a joint House strategy, said: “We have demanded that the Speaker allots the LIP seats to us.” Sources said in view of the Bains brothers’ tenacity to dominate House proceedings, AAP was keen on seeing at least one of them on the front seat.“We have allocated seats as per the party position. The seats are not allocated as per alliance or coalition,” explained Vidhan Sabha officials, who faced an unusual situation, having to accommodate the Leader of the SAD Legislature Party as also the former CM, the seniormost politician not only in Punjab, but the country too.

Parliamentary secys next on Capt agenda

Ministry expansion before June session

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 23

Barely a week after taking oath as Chief Minister and inducting nine ministers, Capt Amarinder Singh today not only announced the expansion of his ministry “before the Budget session in June”, but also said he would introduce a Bill in the Punjab Assembly to appoint MLAs as parliamentary secretaries, a clear indication that Congress MLAs have been lobbying hard with the high command for their elevation.The Punjab and Haryana High Court had in August last year quashed the appointment of 18 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries in the SAD-BJP government, ruling that they were acting as “junior ministers” in contravention of the Constitution’s intent to limit the Council of Ministers to 15 per cent of the strength of the legislature.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Capt Amarinder said he intended to attach parliamentary secretaries with various ministers to acquaint them with matters of governance. He said he would be happy to see his party appoint his successor in the last year of his tenure.Capt Amarinder said he would give due representation to all regions and communities. As of now, there is one minister from the Doaba region, three from Majha and six from Malwa, including the Chief Minister. The Congress has 77 Congress MLAs in the Assembly. There is room for eight more ministers in the Cabinet.Meanwhile, justifying the decision to retain Suresh Arora as the Punjab DGP, Capt Amarinder said he was a thoroughly professional officer while the Chief Secretary had to be changed because of his proximity to the previous SAD-BJP government.

Amarinder hails PM’s initiative on farm debt waiver

ribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 23

Reiterating his commitment to farm loan waiver, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today welcomed reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had instructed the Niti Aayog to make an assessment and formulate a plan for debt waiver.While the state government had already initiated the debt waiver process in the state, it was heartening to see the Central government also moving towards the waiver of the debts of the beleaguered farmers around the country, said Capt Amarinder.The CM, who had raised the farm debt waiver issue with the Prime Minister on Wednesday, said he had received an extremely warm response from both Modi and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, whom he met in New Delhi.Cong finding excuses: Badal Former CM Parkash Singh Badal said by linking its loan waiver promise with the demand for a Central package, the government was finding escape routes to run away from its promise on loan waiver. “The demand for the financial package should be de-linked from the Congress poll promise as that promise was not made on behalf of the Prime Minister. The CM should have announced the loan waiver in a Cabinet decision before going to Delhi,” he said.

MCD: Cong banks on Capt

The Congress is banking on CM Capt Amarinder Singh to put up a strong show in the upcoming Assembly bypoll and the April 23 Municipal Corporation (MCD) elections.Capt Amarinder has consented to campaign and is likely to address a massive rally on March 30 in Rajouri Garden, where an Assembly bypoll is due on April 9.The seat fell vacant after AAP’s Jarnail Singh vacated it to take on former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal from Lambi constituency. — TNS