Chandigarh, July 10 (IANS) Punjab Leader of Opposition and veteran Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa, on Thursday, criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led state government for what he called a “mockery of democracy” after the first day of the Assembly session was adjourned in just 11 minutes at a cost of nearly Rs 1 crore, or Rs 9.09 lakh per minute of taxpayers money.

“This government has turned governance into theatre and the Assembly into a stage for scripted drama,” Bajwa said.

“An 11-minute session at the cost of Rs 1 crore is not just a waste of money, it’s a fraud on democracy.”

The Assembly paid tributes to departed souls, including the deceased of the Ahmedabad plane crash, who had passed away since the last session.

On the first day of the two-day special session of the Vidhan Sabha, the House paid respects to departed souls of Tarn Taran legislator, Kashmir Singh Sohal, former Union Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, eminent writer Rattan Singh Jaggi, martyrs Naik Surinder Singh, Lance Naik Baljeet Singh and Lance Naik Gurpreet Singh, Abohar businessman Sanjay Verma and the victims of the Ahmedabad plane crash in Gujarat.

A two-minute silence was observed in the memory of departed souls as a mark of respect during the obituary references.

However, Bajwa said that he had formally written to Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan requesting an extension of the session to allow discussion on two critical issues: the alarming collapse of law and order and the controversial land pooling scheme, which farmers have widely rejected as a land grab.

“Yet, instead of addressing these urgent concerns, the AAP government chose to wrap up the day in just 11 minutes,” Bajwa told the media.

Even more concerning, he said is that Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann was absent from the Assembly session.

“Mark my words, he will now take to social media and falsely claim that the Opposition skipped the session. But the truth is, this was never meant to be a real session. It was a PR stunt, and an expensive one at that,” Bajwa noted.

The Leader of Opposition also questioned the credibility of the AAP government’s planned “anti-sacrilege Bill”, allegedly the reason for the special Assembly session.

“They haven’t even provided the Opposition with a copy of the Bill. I seriously doubt whether a draft even exists. The AAP government is not being run from Chandigarh, it’s being remote-controlled from Delhi by party supremo Arvind Kejriwal,” the Congress leader added.

–IANS

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