With no Opposition, Sukhbir pats back on law and order debate

With no opposition leaders present in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Thursday, as it boycotted the session after Congress MLA Rana Gurjit Singh was expelled on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had a field day defending the government on the law and order debate.

Concluding the two-day debate on law and order situation in the state, he claimed that the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) had declared Punjab as the "safest state in the country with negative crime rate" in the past five years, and said Congress leaders had run away from the debate by making excuses.

He added that the Congress only wanted to hog media space by launching a campaign on half-baked truths that the law and order situation had deteriorated in Punjab, just because of two unfortunate incidents. He claimed that the SAD-BJP government was quite effective in dealing with the Faridkot minor abduction case. He alleged that Captain Amarinder as CM had "mortgaged" the total liquor business of the state to late Ponty Chadha. Similarly, he accused the Congress of protecting drug mafia.

According to the comparison conducted by NCRB, the crime rate in Punjab registered a decline of 4.8 per cent from 2007 to 2011, whereas during Amarinder's regime, it registered an 18.2 per cent increase.

On Thursday, Bikramjit Singh Majithia said, "He (Rana) abused my mother. I have not come to the Assembly to listen to people hurl abuses at my mother. It was an unfortunate incident. In Punjab, we have a frustrated opposition, not a constructive one''.

Virsa Singh Valhota, Som Parkash, Daljeet Singh Cheema, K D Bhandari and Manoranjan Kalia also spoke from the treasury benches.

If Punjab is safest, what's unsafe state like: Capt

Ridiculing claims of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in the Assembly that Punjab is the safest state in the country, Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh warned him against adopting an "ostrich-like" attitude. "If Punjab had been the safest, a police officer would not have had to lose his life to save the honour and dignity of his daughter, and a young girl would not have been abducted in front of her parents. If your intentions are genuinely sincere, begin with your brother-in-law Bikram Majithia, who is the greatest goon in your party," Amarinder said.

ALSO READ

'Shootout At Wadala' producer Ekta Kapoor apologises, Valmiki Samaj unperturbed

Theatres in Punjab cancel 'Shootout at Wadala' shows

Rail traffic hit due to protests over Sajjan's acquittal

Family of 1971 POW awaits his return from Pak, fears for his life