OATHTAKING The joy on Day 1 was marked by warm hugs, handshakes, and the unmistakable festive colours of the ‘pagris’ sported by Sikh assembly members
CHANDIGARH: From an assembly awash with the Akali blue for 10 long years, the 15th Vidhan Sabha on Friday sprang up with all festive hues as the ‘Congress 77’ settled themselves on the treasury benches. Many dressed in spotless white kurtapyjama, the joy was marked by warm hugs, handshakes, and the unmistakable festive colours of the ‘pagris’ sported by the Sikh members.
Congress MLAs have long given up the tradition of wearing white ‘pagris’ and on Friday they had chosen more “sacred” colours for their headgear. Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh wore a beige ‘pagri’, a shift from his favourite light pink or light blue. There were others who completed the palette — Sukhjinder Randhawa chose light peach, Rana Gurmeet Sodhi chose bright pink, Pargat Singh donned dark purple and Balbir Sidhu chose magenta. Charanjit Channi sported a red ‘pagri’ and some even wore orange.
Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu dressed to the tee in a suit, wore a rust shirt with a matching ‘pagri’. Manpreet Badal wore his blue blazer today (he is mostly seen in either a white one or a school uniform blue) over his shirt-pant combination sporting a white ‘pagri’. The most colourful of Congressmen, Rana Gurjeet Singh, was dressed as expected, white kurta-pyjama, yellow jacket and purple ‘pagri’
Most of the youngsters had chosen to don kurta-pyjama, giving the true politician look but some wanted to look more fashionable. Amrinder Singh Raja Warring looked strapping in a blue blazer-shirt-pant combination, and newbie AAP MLA from Barnala Meet Hayer following suit.
Most of the Sikh Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs chose to wear ‘Basanti’ (bright yellow) turbans, the party’s campaign colour, symbolic of revolution, with Sunam MLA Aman Arora having found a jacket of the same colour. Leader of opposition, HS Phoolka, stuck to his usual blue. Most of the Akali MLAs too stuck to blue or black (two of three colours emblematic of Sikhism), only Parminder Dhindsa wearing his favourite light yellow.
Acutely missing from the new assembly was the glam quotient visible in the last House, thanks to its women members. Ministers Aruna Chaudhry and Razia Sultana wore subtle shades of white and beige, not wanting to stand out, lending a graceful tinge to the treasury benches. All six women MLAs kept their heads covered with ‘dupattas’.
UNUSUAL BONHOMIE, HUMILITY MARKS DAY
Lok Insaaf Party’s Simarjeet Singh Bains, allied with the Aam Aadmi Party, shared a warm hug with Navjot Sidhu Sidhu, reliving the bonhomie of the Awaaz-e-Punjab days before the group split to support different parties.
Bikram Singh Majithia, the Congress’ and AAP’s bugbear, shook hands with chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and leader of opposition HS Phoolka after taking oath. Many legislators also bent to touch the floor of the House on their way to taking oath.
Capt govt to push CPS bill on last day of assembly session
WILL CHALLENGE GOVERNMENT MOVE, STATE LAW CANNOT MAKE APPOINTMENTS LEGAL, SAYS FORMER PETITIONER
CHANDIGARH: A sleek nine-member cabinet may not be enough to meet the aspirations of the 77 Congress MLAs. Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has hinted at expansion of his cabinet after the budget session in June. But his government is readying to push a legislation on the last day of the current session (March 29) to get the appointment of chief parliamentary secretaries (CPSes) passed by the House.
Government sources contend the appointment of CPS, per se, is not unconstitutional. “The Punjab and Haryana High Court had stuck down the appointments in Punjab, holding that there was no law to mandate it. Once the assembly ratifies a law, the appointments should not face any legal hurdle,” government sources added.
The previous SAD-BJP government had appointed 23 CPSes without passing any law in the state assembly. The Congress government is likely to ensure that it keeps the appointments on a par with the 15% ceiling on size of the cabinet. In the 117member Punjab assembly, the cabinet can have not more than 18 ministers. So, the number of CPSes to be appointed also would be restricted to the figure of 18 under the state legislation.
Other than Amarinder loyalists, young turks of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi could be appointed as CPS to “groom” them for the future. Neighbouring Himachal, too, is bringing a law to appoint CPSes.
But advocate HC Arora, petitioner in the case before the Punjab and Haryana high court, said any new state legislation on the matter will be challenged. “The constitutional mandate is of appointing ministers, which should not be more than 15% of the total number of MLAs. A state legislation cannot make the appointments legal as it will be against the constitutional mandate,” he said.
“There can’t be anybody else between the minister and administrative secretary of the department, through whom files can be routed. If a CPS comes in between, the oath of secrecy by minister goes. The HC had also pointed out that they were acting like junior ministers, which is against the law,” Arora said. “We shall definitely challenge the government move. We won’t let go the battle, which we have won after years of efforts put in by a large number of people,” Arora said.
The HC had quashed all the CPS appointments made by the previous Parkash Singh Badal government on August 12, 2016, along with six others made later. The state government had moved the Supreme Court but it had refused to stay the high court order. The HC bench had decided the matter on two petitions filed in 2012.
‘Fine if CM keeps urban development ministry’
CHANDIGARH : Local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday toned down his demand for housing and urban development ministry when he said it was fine with him if chief minister Amarinder Singh continues to hold the portfolio and he only wants to be involved in discussion and decision-making process.
“I have no problem if CM keeps the housing department,” said Sidhu while talking to a select group of journalists after taking oath as an MLA in the 15th Punjab Vidhan Sabha. His comments came a day after a clean chit from the government that he can continue to be a part of “The Kapil Sharma Show”.
Last week, Amarinder had raised apprehension that in case of conflict of interest, Sidhu’s portfolio (tourism and cultural affairs) could be changed. On Thursday, advocate general Atul Nanda made it clear that Sidhu “faces no legal bar in continuing with his work on the show”.
Sidhu had been demanding housing and urban development department along with the local bodies assigned to him saying all the issues related to urban development are in control of one department.
“My request is to call me periodically to discuss the issues, so there is coordination in all development works in state,” he said, reiterating that the development had to a joint effort of the two departments. Many programmes run by the Centre have involvement of both housing and urban development and local bodies department of the states, he said.