CM uneasy about facing Opposition: Badal

CHANDIGARH: Deciding against moving a no-confidence motion against the Congress government in Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal president Parkash Singh Badal has said that calling a two-day Assembly session at a time when there are so many burning issues to discuss is a ''mockery of traditions''.
After a meeting of the legislative wing of the SAD here on Tuesday, Badal said Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ''does not have the courage to face the Opposition.'' He said it was a pity that the chief minister, instead using the Assembly floor for healthy debate, had stated that it was his constitutional compulsion to have called the session."This reveals his fear of facing the Opposition," Badal said.
Badal said, for all practical purposes, it would be just a one-day session for the first day had been earmarked for obituary references only. ``This is criminal and murder of democracy," he said.
Badal said his party had never thought about moving a no-confidence motion against the state government. Instead, the SAD would move two adjournment motions, on corruption and the law and order situation in the state. He said that his party would appeal to the Speaker to extend the session to five days to allow elaborate discussion on all issues of the day.
On the CM'' proposal to re-negotiate the terms and conditions for the setting up of Bathinda oil refinery, Badal said that Amarinder Singh was playing ''petty politics'' by trying to scuttle the multi-crore project which was bound to bring about prosperity in the region. ``By putting the refinery on hold and bartering away Punjab Tractors Ltd, the CM is committing a serious act of treachery with the people of the state. Amarinder Singh has overlooked the interests of the Punjabis in the same way as the other Congress chief ministers had."
Asked how prepared was he to face the challan that the CM had announced to file in a corruption case against him, Badal dismissed it as ''hogwash''. ``They have wasted lakhs of rupees in trying to dig out my properties in foreign countries and had found nothing. And now they are assessing my properties about which everybody in the state knows everything about,'' he said.
Badal reiterated that the Congress should fulfil the promise it made in its election manifesto to constitute a commission to look into charges of corruption. ``By getting cases registered by the Vigilance Bureau, a department that he himself is heading, Amarinder Singh is merely following his political agenda of hounding the opposition,'' Badal said.