State finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal and Local Bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday attacked the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for repeatedly creating ruckus in the State Assembly and not allowing the House to function smoothly.
The Akalis said they protested after rejection of their adjournment motion on debate on the farmer debt issue. Speaking to reporters outside the Assembly, Badal hit out at the SAD, alleged that they looted Punjab for past ten years. Terming the SAD a "rudderless ship", Sidhu said, "Sardar Badal (former CM) and junior Badal (Sukhbir Badal) marked their attendance in the Speaker's room and left from there."
"They cannot face the House themselves and are putting their cronies in the front to speak on their behalf," Sidhu told reporters.
Charanjit Singh Channi also slammed the Akalis for disrupting the House proceedings.
Senior SAD leader Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, however, told reporters that "the Congress promised loan waiver for farmers. We are demanding discussion on the issue now. Are we doing anything wrong?
Till the time they do not discuss the issue, we cannot sit quiet. It is the Congress which is backing out from its promise made to the farmers".
Earlier in the House, Congress leader Ajaib Singh Bhatti was elected as the Deputy Speaker of the state assembly.