The fissures among the top leadership of Punjab Congress were visible even inside the Vidhan Sabha during the special session convened to mark the 400th Parkash Purab celebrations of Guru Teg Bahadur.
With Navjpot Singh Sidhu and Capt Amarinder continuing to be at loggerheads, the dirty laundry was hung out to dry in plain view. Many legislators lead by Sidhu camp were seen occupying the back benches.
Even the four rebel ministers – Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Sukh Sarkaria and Charanjit Singh Channi maintained a distance from the Chief Minister, though in all previous sessions their seats were near the CM’s seat. The strains between leaders were far too obvious.
Ignoring that the rebels were sitting at a distance, the Chief Minister while addressing the House said we need to have more religious freedom in the country.
“There are places where intolerance is the order of the day. Whenever there is a crisis anywhere in the world, Sikhs come forward to help others. Our gurus were willing to lay down their lives for humanity,” he said.
He said that the welfare of the entire humanity – Sarbat da bhala – should remain the most important guiding principle today. “As representatives of people, we should not forget that in spite of diverse political thoughts, serving humanity should be the prime objective,” he said.
Later, the Akali Dal demanded that Chief Minister should prove his majority in the House. However, the request was turned down by the Speaker and the House was adjourned sine die.
SAD leader Bikram Majithia said since there is a division in Congress, the Chief Minister should face a no-confidence motion.
With inputs from News18