Day after, rivals ignore AAP ‘expose’ 

Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) set the political tone for the Assembly session yesterday, following their audio tape “expose”, but the ruling Congress and the SAD-BJP alliance today refused to let the issue hog the limelight.

Forced to change their strategy last evening, the two parties chose to completely ignore the scandal raised by AAP. They instead tried to deflect from this issue to “public matters”.

Congress MLAs raised the questions sent to the Vidhan Sabha concerning their constituencies and dealing with public interest — widespread dengue and civic works etc. The treasury benches went about their business as usual. Akali-BJP MLAs, though armed with old photos of Sukhpal Singh Khaira with an alleged drug lord whose extradition from Canada has been sought by India in 2015, decided to use these only in case Khaira and other AAP MLAs tried to embarrass its own leaders on the drug issue.

The Akali-BJP MLAs, led by former CM Parkash Singh Badal and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, talked of delay in the implementation of farm loan waiver and its repercussions, low price offered by government to sugarcane growers and the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

While the two old parties later “justified” themselves by raising other issues, AAP was left to its own as they stormed the well of the House, flashing placards demanding a CBI probe into the drug cases, involving both Khaira and Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia.

Even though the AAP leaders tried to provoke the Akali-BJP MLAs as both came face-to-face amid aggressive posturing in the well of the House, where Akalis were demanding a debate on their adjournment motion regarding non-implementation of debt relief, the latter remained indifferent. As a result of the two Opposition parties raising their own demands and refusing to let the House function, no question sent by MLAs of the two parties could be taken up.

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