Punjab House session on Thursday to bring confidence motion in favour of ruling AAP

Chandigarh: The Punjab Cabinet on Tuesday approved the summoning of a special assembly session on September 22 to bring a confidence motion in favour of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

A decision to this effect was taken at the meeting of the council of ministers, chaired by chief minister Bhagwant Mann here. The Cabinet approved the recommendation to be sent to the governor for summoning the said session under Article 174(1) of the Constitution.

According to information, the session would begin with obituary references at 11 am followed by moving of the confidence motion in favour of the ruling AAP government.

It is pertinent to mention here that the session is being convened about a week after AAP had accused the BJP of trying to topple its government in Punjab under latter’s ``Operation Lotus’’.

The AAP leaders not only accused the saffron of trying to poach its legislators but also lodged a complaint with police against BJP leaders. The Punjab police also registered a case in the regard and transferred it to the vigilance bureau (VB).

The AAP leaders had alleged some BJP leaders and their agents were offering up to Rs 25 crore each to its about 10 MLAs and threatening its Jalandhar (West) legislator Sheetal Angural with death to topple the AAP government in Punjab.

The BJP on the other hand slammed AAP’s allegations and submitted a memorandum with governor Banwari Lal Purohit demanding a high-level inquiry into the AAP charges.

The state BJP president Ashwani Sharma held that the said charges levelled by AAP leaders including its national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal against the BJP were baseless and had been a political mischief to cover up their own failures.

For record, the ruling AAP had come to power in March this year with an absolute majority with 92 MLAs in the 117-member Punjab assembly. The Congress finished second with 18 seats and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) with three while its ally BSP got just one seat. The BJP won only two seats and there is only one independent MLA.

Published on: Tuesday, September 20, 2022, 10:27 PM IST