Congress to move Privilege Motion against Punjab speaker

Leader of Opposition in Punjab assembly Rajinder Kaur Bhattal today said that Congress would move a Privilege Motion under rule 11 of Rules and Procedure and Conduct of Business in Punjab Vidhan Sabha in the next session.

The Congress will explore all options to initiate actions against speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon for his recent "indictment" by CBI in an alleged job scandal during tenure as minister in previous Akali regime from 1997-2003, Bhattal told reporters here.

Bhattal said that the CBI had demanded sanction from the state government for prosecution of Kahlon, but the plea is pending for the last nine months with the Punjab government.

She said that the Opposition was not given time to raise the public issues and Zero Hour was skipped in the brief winter session, which concluded last week.

The Leader of Opposition also said that the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) had met the Governor in this regard and will meet the prime minister and the union home minister in coming days to throw out bankrupt government of the state.

Asked about her willingness to lead the party in state, she said that she had been leading the party in the Assembly being its leader.

If the party high command reposed faith in her she would certainly take the responsibility, Bhattal said.