Tabling the ‘confidence motion’ on the first day of the Vidhan Sabha session, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday accused the Congress party of supporting the BJP’s “Operation Lotus”, dubbing the two national political parties as “twin faces of the same coin”.

Mann, pointing that the confidence motion was necessitated as both Congress and BJP have joined hands to topple the democratically-elected governments in the State, said: “Three crore people of Punjab have faith in us... I have full faith in my 91 soldiers (AAP MLAs)”.

Accusing the opposition MLAs of running away from the discussion, Mann launched a scathing attack on the Congress and the BJP. Mann said that the saffron party feels that only they should be in power everywhere, while “the Congress is in such a situation that nobody wants to take over as its president”.

Notably, AAP had recently claimed that at least 10 of its MLAs were approached by the BJP with an offer of Rs 25 crore each and threats of launching a probe by the central agencies in a bid to topple the six-month-old government under “Operation Lotus”. In the 117-member assembly, the AAP has 92 MLAs, with 18 from Congress, three from SAD, two from BJP, one from BSP, while one is an Independent.

Mann, tabling the confidence motion, said: “BJP is using anti-defection law as a new tool to form governments in the state through back door in the country and unfortunately despite being its worst victim, the Congress is supporting it.”

The Chief Minister said that BJP has toppled the elected governments in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and others by luring the MLAs. “However, they failed in their sinister moves thrice in Delhi; and now also in Punjab, they trying to purchase the MLAs with money….BJP is running behind mirage with an aim to garner power in the state and in this attempt they are using pennies to purchase Aces of AAP,” he said.

Stating that BJP his using its moneybags to cause an irreparable loss to the democracy, Mann said that in the past Congress has done the same and now the saffron party is following its footsteps.

Citing an example of connivance amongst Congress and BJP, Mann said that Congress leadership has started ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Kanyakumari to Kashmir but the poll bound states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have been deliberately excluded to give benefit to the BJP.

Chief Minister said that turncoats are ruling the roost now and former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who had tacitly towed the line of BJP during his stint, has now formally joined the party.

Training his guns against former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, he said that for the first time, any CM face of a political party has gone missing after defeat in polls. “As a fact of matter, fear of misdeeds during their regime is haunting the former Chief Minister due to which he is on run,” he said.

“I want to ask him about several files. Why has he run away? Why can’t he meet me for the transfer of power?” he quipped.

“These are the rejected leaders who have been ousted by people for their non-performance. These leaders, who have been shunted out of the state assembly by the people, are now organizing ‘Imaginative or Mock’ assembly sessions to mislead the people and vent out their frustration,” he said.

Listing out the several decisions and initiatives of AAP Government during its six-month tenure, Mann said that in democracy, government is of the people, for the people and by the people but BJP and Congress are trying to insult the mandate of people through ‘Operation Lotus’.

Taking on the Congress MLAs, Mann said: “These days, it has become a tradition that proceedings of the House are disrupted and the political leaders often take pride in it. Through this, the soul of democracy is hurt which is not a healthy sign. The people of the state have expressed whopping confidence in the policies of the government and this motion has been moved to restore this confidence.”

He said that this motion reflects that people have faith in us and we have faith in people. “BJP is making desperate attempts to purchase the confidence of the people but this will never be allowed at any cost. Defeats are part of life but Congress is not able to digest it due to which it is supporting ‘Operation Lotus’,” he added.