Hours after Punjab Governor sought details of the legislative business to be taken up in the proposed Assembly session on Tuesday, September 27, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann slammed the move, saying next time the Governor will ask all speeches also to be approved by him.
"Gov/Presi consent before any session of Legislature is a formality. In 75 years, no Presi/Gov ever asked list of Legislative business before calling session. Legislative business is decided by BAC and speaker. Next Gov will ask all speeches also to be approved by him.its too much," he said in a tweet.
The fresh development comes after Governor Banwari Lal Purohit had stopped the Mann-led regime's plan to summon a special assembly session on September 22 to bring a "confidence motion only".
Earlier on Thursday, Mann had said issues like stubble burning and electricity will be discussed in the September 27 session, likely to last a day.
Senior AAP leader Raghav Chadha also questioned the move of the Raj Bhavan to seek details of the legislative business to be taken up on Tuesday, asserting that legislative business is the exclusive domain of the Business Advisory Committee of the House and Speaker.
"Whether it's inflation or the 'Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives' - legislative business is exclusive domain of Business Advisory Committee & Speaker, not of Governor," Chadha tweeted. "The Governor of Punjab is thoroughly eroding people's faith in his office, one communication at a time," Chadha further said.
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With the Governor's fresh move, it led to suspense over the fate of Tuesday's proposed session. According to a letter from Punjab Governor's Principal Secretary to the Secretary Vidhan Sabha, "Hon'ble Governor, Punjab, desires to know the details of the legislative business to be taken up in the proposed 3rd session of 16th Punjab Vidhan Sabha on 27.9.2022".
"Above clarification may be provided at the earliest for the information of Hon'ble Governor, Punjab," the letter said.
After earlier being stopped by the Governor from holding a special sitting of the Assembly on September 22 to seek a confidence vote only, Punjab's AAP government had on Thursday decided to summon a session on September 27 and also said it will also approach the Supreme Court over the Raj Bhavan move.
The party had recently claimed that at least 10 of its MLAs were approached by the BJP with an offer of Rs 25 crore to each of them in a bid to topple the six-month-old government under its 'Operation Lotus.'
(With inputs from PTI)
