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Punjab Congress MLAs hand over resignations to Bhattal

CHANDIGARH: Most Congress MLAs in Punjab submitted their resignations to the president of the State unit of the party, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, over the weekend to allow her a free hand to organise a “comprehensive and effective” protest against the violence, intimidation and rigging during the recent polls for the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).

Confirming this over phone, the spokesman of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), Bir Devinder Singh said that all MLA’s except a few, who had cited ill health had submitted their resignations.

But they have assured to convey their resignation through fax or special couriers. “Despite repeated attempts, former Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh could not be contacted,” he added.

The Congress MLA’s resignations follow the decision by the five ministers, Deputy Speaker and four Chief Parliamentary Secretaries of the BJP, who quit earlier in the weak, after the party leaders, cadre and supporters were targeted by Akali workers on May 12, when polling was conducted.

While the decision on the BJP resignations is pending with their party high command, the Congress workers at the grass roots had begun to exert pressure on their leadership to put up some protest against the alleged Akali high handedness.

All the 44 Congress MLAs in Punjab’s 117 member Assembly were summoned by Ms Bhattal to Amritsar, where she has been camping for the last two weeks to campaign for the bye-election for the Amritsar (South) seat, which has been necessitated due to the death of an Akali legislator. After submitting their resignations, the MLAs authorised Ms Bhattal to consult the party high command and decide the future course of the agitation.

Mr. Singh said that Ms Bhattal, who also heads the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) in the State Assembly, would lead her MLAs to organise a protest “dharna” in front of the official residence of the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, on May 24. While the party has decided not to mobilise its workers, the MLAs would agitate against the alleged rigging of the PRIs’ polls, misuse of official machinery, widespread violence and complete breakdown of the administrative machinery in the state. They would seek the resignation of the Chief Minister and demand imposition of President’s rule.

Meanwhile the PPCC decided to expel former MLA, Harjinder Singh Thekedar, from the primary membership of the party for six years for indulging in anti-party activities, especially working against the party campaign in Amritsar (South). Through separate complaints to the Election Commission of India, the Congress has accused Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, the Chief Secretary, Ramesh Inder Singh and Secretary for Transport and Public Relations, D.S. Jaspal for allegedly violating the model code of conduct. The party has demanded a scrutiny of the call data records of the mobile phones used by the officers in the past few days.

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