Chandigarh: A day after Governor Banwarilal Purohit sought details of legislative business to be taken up in the assembly session called by the AAP government on September 27, the state Cabinet Minister accused Purohit of acting at the behest of the BJP to implement ‘Operation Lotus’ in Punjab.
Addressing a press conference here, Punjab New and Renewable Energy Sources Minister Aman Arora said that in the past 75 years, no President or Governor has ever asked for the list of legislative business before calling the session.
He termed it “unfortunate and condemnable”. “This is happening for the first time because the Punjab Governor is clearly working in cahoots with BJP and Congress to weaken the democratic system and stop the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government from working for the welfare of common people,” he added.
Assailing the BJP-led Centre, Arora said that wherever the BJP does not have a state government, they have assigned duties to governors to act as the opposition and implement their dubious agendas to prevent the ruling government from functioning.
“That’s why the governor is sending notices to the AAP government frequently and preventing the party to function freely as per the Constitution of India.
“The latest attempt to murder democracy is that the governor’s office sought the details of legislative business for September 27, which has never happened in the past.
“Earlier, the governor withdrew his assent for a special session called by the AAP government on September 22, at the behest of BJP because that would have exposed Operation Lotus,” Arora said.
He said that in Delhi BJP’s Lieutenant Governor is preventing AAP from working and now in Punjab, BJP has assigned this job to Punjab Governor.
“They are afraid of the growing popularity of AAP and want to stop the party by any means from raising pro-people issues. But the AAP party will continue to work to safeguard democracy,” Arora added.
Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Punjab Minister said that in 2012 when Modi was CM of Gujarat, he had accused the then governor of conspiring with Congress against his government and now the BJP is following a similar strategy to hamper the functioning of ruling parties across the country.
He also attacked the BJP government for denying political clearance to him for the knowledge exchange tour on Green Hydrogen to Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, which was aimed to get investment and the latest technologies to Punjab.
