Grappling with criticism over a lacklustre performance of the Congress MLAs during the just-concluded monsoon session of the Assembly except on the final day, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Pritam Singh said that the Congress legislature party had put the State Government on the mat on several matters during the session. “We played the role of a robust opposition throughout the session,” he averred.
Buttressing his claim with day-to-day account of their performance during a press conference on Tuesday, he said that on the day one of the session, the Congress MLAs had demanded work adjournment on the issue of price rise. “But the Speaker allowed discussion under section-58 on the issue. We forcefully highlighted the fact that the people are reeling under the skyrocketing prices of diesel and petrol while both the Union and the State Government remain indifferent to their plight,” he said.
He said that on the day two, the Congress legislators had articulated their resentment over the anti-encroachment drives going on in different parts of the State with all the seriousness the subject deserves. “The people are being left to suffer by the anti- encroachment drive.
The officials armed with old maps of 1904 and 1938 are pulling down houses where the people have been dwelling in for many years. We asked the Government to bring a bill to save the people from the anti- encroachment drive on the lines it has given relief to the slum dwellers,’’ he said.
The State Congress chief, further, said that they had also raised the issue of deteriorating law and order condition in the State. Citing sexual exploitation of a visually challenged girl in NIVH, rape in GRD World School and daring day-light murder of a person in the Chief Minister’s constituency, Singh said that while the State Government is hyping the investor’s summit the reality is different. “The State reeling under such horrid crimes, the investors would think twice before investing in the State. We made it clear during the session to the State Government,” he said.
Dwelling on the proceedings of the last day of the session, Singh said that the party had torn into the State Government on the issue of the appointment of Lokayukt. “The Chief Minister in his first press conference vowed to appoint Lokayukt within 100 days, but nothing so far has been done. When the bill was tabled in the Assembly it was sent deliberately to a select committee.
Now the Government is saying that it is for the Vidhan Sabha to decide on Lokayukt. This is unacceptable,’’ he said. The Congress leader slammed the State Government for sitting over the Lokayukt bill and pointed out that the bills which the Government wants to be tabled in the Assembly are being brought in the business advisory committee of the House. “But the all-important Lokayukt bill is conspicuously missing,” he said.
He also mentioned the discomfiture the State Government suffered at the hands of some BJP lawmakers on numerous issues, leading to the Speaker passing many orders and giving important directions to the State Government. “In short, the performance of the Congress MLAs in the just–concluded session is excellent, given the low representation of the party there,” the State party chief said.
