Cong to corner govt over law and order, land pooling policy

The Congress Legislative Party on Wednesday decided to take on the AAP government on issues of law and order, land pooling policy and anti-drug campaign during the two-day special Assembly session beginning tomorrow.

The meeting was chaired by the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa.

Senior party leaders Rana Gurjeet Singh, Pargat Singh and Sukhwinder Kotli also attended the meeting, shunning their differences with the state party leadership after the Ludhiana bypoll debacle.

Pargat Singh and Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon had quit as the state unit vice-presidents after the bypoll.

In their resignation letters, both stressed the need for the restructuring of the Punjab Congress while seeking a “collective introspection” on the party’s defeat.

Others who attended the meeting included Balwinder Dhaliwal, Barindermeet Pahra, Naresh Puri, Sukhpal Khaira and Vikram Chaudhary. The party legislators stressed on cornering the ruling party over the gruesome murder of Abohar businessman Sanjay Verma and a murderous attack on Moga doctor Dr Aniljit Singh Kambhoj.

After chairing the meeting, Bajwa demanded that the special session be extended by at least two days to discuss issues of grave public concern.

He alleged that like the BJP-led Centre that had brought now-defunct three controversial farm laws in 2020, state’s AAP government wanted to help private players by taking over the fertile land of farmers through the land pooling initiative in the name of urban development. Slamming AAP, he said the initiative was a scam in the making. “Letters of intent being given to farmers are vague, carry no legal or financial guarantees, and are part of a predatory design to dispossess farmers and enrich private players,” he alleged.

“The government had bypassed the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, which requires social impact Assessments, landowner consent, and fair compensation,” he said.

Punjab