CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday slammed Congress MLAs for staging a walkout from the Punjab Assembly during the governor’s address on Friday, claiming they did so because they couldn’t hear the achievements of the AAP government.
“The Congress MLAs don’t have any issue to raise. What else could they do? People do not like them,” Mann said while speaking to reporters after seeing off a batch of school principals for a training programme in Singapore.
“When they (Congress MLAs) are sitting in the House, they cannot hear the government's achievements, such as how many schools and hospitals have been built, etc. That is why they walked out of the House," Mann alleged.
The Budget session of the Punjab Assembly got off to a stormy start on Friday after Congress MLAs raised slogans against the AAP government and staged a walkout when Governor Gulab Chand Kataria was addressing the House.
Despite Kataria requesting the opposition MLAs to raise their issues at the right time, the Congress legislators continued sloganeering against the government and later walked out of the House.
Asked about the Rs 1,000 monthly allowance for women, a key pre-poll promise of the AAP that is yet to be fulfilled, Mann said he cannot reveal anything on it before the presentation of the state Budget.
“The Budget will be presented on International Women's Day (March 8), so you can make your guess,” Mann told reporters.
According to sources, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema is likely to announce the Rs 1,000 monthly allowance for women when he presents the state Budget on Sunday, nearly four years after the AAP came to power in Punjab.
On people from the state stuck in the Middle East amid the raging conflict between Iran and the US-Israel combine, Mann said the state government has shared details of 385 people, mostly tourists, with the ministries of external affairs and civil aviation.
Some flights are landing from Oman and Dubai, and passengers are coming in batches, the chief minister said.
On the opposition criticising the government for painting state-owned PRTC buses blue and yellow – a colour combination associated with the AAP – Mann said the buses are private and they come under the Punjab Kilometre Scheme.
The scheme is a public-private partnership that aims to allow private operators to manage bus services, including providing buses, drivers and maintenance, while the state provides routes and fuel.