Bhagwant Mann’s announcement of the special session came a few hours before former chief minister Amarinder Singh is set to join the BJP. (File Photo)Amid claims by the Aam Aadmi Party that the BJP tried to poach its legislators in Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Monday said a special session of the Vidhan Sabha will be called on September 22 to bring a confidence motion and prove “people’s trust in the government”.
The move by Mann comes nearly three weeks after the Delhi Assembly passed a confidence motion tabled by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal amid similar allegations by the AAP against the BJP.
Mann, who returned from Germany after a 10-day trip, made the announcement after meeting Kejriwal on Monday afternoon. “We will bring the confidence motion just to prove legally that the people have all the trust in us. We will show how much people believe in us. Punjab MLAs are standing like a rock behind the people of the state. We all have dreamt of a resurrected Punjab and we will together realise that dream,” he said in a video.
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema had recently alleged that at least 10 AAP MLAs were approached by the BJP under its “Operation Lotus” with an offer of Rs 25 crore to each of them in a bid to topple the six-month old Punjab government. Cheema had alleged that BJP leaders were trying to poach the MLAs by instilling the fear of Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate.
With 92 MLAs, the AAP has an overwhelming majority in the 117-member Assembly, while Congress has 18, SAD three, BJP two, and BSP one. The Assembly also has an Independent member.
“You must have heard how they (the BJP leaders) tried to contact our MLAs and tried to offer money and other allurements in an attempt to topple the state government which was elected with a huge mandate,” Mann said in a video message in Punjabi.
Mann said the people had not given in to pressure from powerful and moneyed politicians, but elected the AAP government with a brute majority. “We will maintain that trust…I want to show the confidence of people through this session and confidence motion,” he said, adding, “to show this confidence in a legal manner, we are calling a special session of the Vidhan Sabha on September 22. We will show how committed the elected MLAs are to realize the dream of turning Punjab into a vibrant state”.
Cheema and other MLAs had later submitted a complaint with Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav following which an FIR was filed was registered. Both Cheema and the police, however, have maintained silence on the contents of the FIR.
The Punjab BJP, meanwhile, had urged Governor Banwarilal Purohit to get a probe done by a sitting judge of the high court into the AAP’s “baseless” accusations.
Reacting to the summoning of special session of assembly, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh described the move as a “complete political hoax” being played on people of Punjab to divert their attention from the “failures” of the government.
He said the AAP government, after six months of its tenure, stands completely exposed as the entire state is feeling cheated by the promises it had held. “Now, an assembly session has been called on the basis of a cock and bull story of Operation Lotus. The AAP government has not only given name to it but has also cooked up the entire plot to deceive and mislead people’s attention,” Chugh said.
He said it is interesting that ‘Operation Lotus’ was launched by the AAP government when people started discussing the “failures” of the government after six months of its coming to power.
Chugh demanded a CBI inquiry in connection with all the AAP MLAs who have claimed to have received calls on behalf of the BJP. He also said the cyber cell of the Punjab Police should have traced the calls by now.
“At a time when no MLA or political party has called for the assembly session, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is just following in the footsteps of his master, Arvind Kejriwal, who had recently replicated it all in Delhi,” Chugh said.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal asked Mann “not to enact the drama of a confidence vote”, saying bribery allegations could only be verified by an independent inquiry by the CBI or the high court and that no purpose could be achieved by calling a special session of the Vidhan Sabha. “If you are not scared of anything, you should not be afraid of an independent probe into the bribery allegations,” said Badal
— WITH PTI INPUTS