Budget session: After brawl over debt, Raja Warring forcibly removed from Punjab Vidhan Sabha

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, March 6

State Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring was forcibly removed from the Vidhan Sabha today on the orders of Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan.

Nine Congress MLAs present in the House during the discussion on Budget were also suspended for the day.

Three MLAs – Warring, Barindermeet Singh Pahra and Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary – refused to leave the House after all Congress MLAs were named by the Speaker for creating pandemonium in the House and disrupting proceedings. Pahra and Chaudhary accompanied Warring out of the Assembly when he was forcibly lifted and taken out.

Speaker defends action

The House will be run in accordance with rules and regulations. I had given the Congress an additional five minutes over and above the time allotted to the party. But House has to run smoothly. —Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Speaker

The pandemonium started when Warring’s speech in the House was cut short by the Speaker, saying that the time allotted to the Congress for debate on the Budget was over. At that time, Warring was defending the previous Congress government, accused by the treasury benches of piling up public debt and not making any efforts for resource mobilisation.

He was talking about the higher capital expenditure made by the Congress during its regime and how the previous government had repaid loans worth Rs 36,335 crore.

As Warring objected to his speech being cut short and reached the Well of the House to protest, other MLAs also joined him. They continued to object and even leader of the Opposition Partap Bajwa reminded the Speaker that he was assured during the Business Advisory Council meeting that Opposition MLAs would be given free time to speak. The objections by the Congress MLAs grew louder. The House was then adjourned for 15 minutes.

While other Congress MLAs, Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sukh Sarkaria, Rana Gurjit Singh, Avtar Henry Junior, Raj Kumar Chabbewal and Hardev Singh Laddi, had left the House after being named, Warring refused to budge and Pahra and Chaudhary stayed on with him. The Watch-and-Ward staff had initially pleaded with him to leave on his own.

As the session re-convened after the adjournment, and Warring was still inside the House, the Speaker asked the staff to remove the MLA.

“The House will be run in accordance with rules and regulations. I had given the Congress an additional five minutes over and above the time allotted to them. But House has to run smoothly,” he said.

Speech cut short, triggers row

The pandemonium started when Warring’s speech was cut short by the Speaker, saying that the time allotted to the Congress for the debate on the Budget was over. Warring was defending the previous Congress government, accused by the treasury benches of piling up debt and not making any efforts for resource mobilisation