CHANDIGARH: The tussle between Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government refuses to die down, as the government on Saturday hits back at Purohit accusing him of acting at the behest of BJP to implement ‘Operation Lotus’ in Punjab. A day ago, Purohit had sought details of legislative business to be taken in the Assembly session called by the government on September 27.
Meanwhile, the governor shot off a letter to the chief minister stating that his legal advisors are not briefing him adequately. New and Renewable Energy Sources Minister Aman Arora said no president or governor has ever asked for the list of legislative business before calling the session.
“This is happening for the first time because the Punjab governor is working in cahoots with BJP and Congress to weaken the democratic system and stop the AAP government from working for the welfare of people,” the minister said.
Assailing the Central government, Arora said that wherever the BJP has no government, they have assigned duties to governors to act as the opposition and implement their dubious agendas to prevent the ruling government from functioning. That’s why the governor is sending notices to the AAP government frequently and preventing the party to function freely as per the constitution of India.
“The latest attempt to murder democracy is that the governor’s office sought the details of legislative business for September 27, which has never happened in the past. Earlier, the governor withdrew his assent for a special session called by the AAP government on September 22, at the behest of BJP,” Arora said.
He said that in Delhi, BJP’s Lieutenant Governor is preventing AAP from working and now in Punjab, BJP has assigned this job to the governor. They are afraid of AAP’s popularity and want to stop it from raising pro-people issues.
In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Arora said that in 2012 when Modi was CM of Gujarat, he had accused the then governor of conspiring with Congress against his government and now the BJP is following a similar strategy to hamper the functioning of ruling parties across the country.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha has today released the agenda of legislative business to be taken up in the session GST, stubble burning and power scenario. In the letter attached, the secretary also mentioned that the details of legislative business were never ever asked earlier and are never supplied to a state’s governor.
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that it is condemnable that the governor has sought details of legislative business to be conducted during the proposed assembly session.