Congress and AAP colluding in Assembly to suppress real public issues: BJP's Sunil Jakhar

Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], March 12 (ANI): Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Sunil Jakhar said that in the Punjab Legislative Assembly, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the opposition Congress are creating drama through mutual coordination to divert people's attention from real issues affecting Punjab.
Speaking to the reporters, the BJP president said that Congress and AAP have a secret understanding, under which the opposition avoids questioning the government on public issues and instead keeps staging walkouts, while the ruling party continues passing resolutions that have no connection with public welfare.
Jakhar specifically reminded the Speaker of the Assembly that during the July 2025 session, a special session was called to make a law regarding religious sacrilege, but even after six months, the government has failed to approve a draft of the law.
He said that if the government was truly serious about the issue, the Speaker should respond to it or ask the government during the current session to present the draft law for approval.
He added that even today justice has not been delivered in the cases of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib, and because of this two governments have already changed and a third may change, yet the issue is still not on the government's agenda.
Jakhar castigated the government regarding the PRTC buses being sent to Palsana in the Sikar district of Rajasthan for body fabrication and to be painted in AAP party colours. He said the buses are being painted by Rex Pipe and Cable Industries Ltd. He alleged that the same people are involved in this company, whose firm had installed bus bodies during the previous Congress government.
Jakhar accused the Chief Minister of repeatedly claiming corruption in that earlier case, but instead of taking action against the former Congress minister, he is allegedly using the case file only to blackmail the Congress leader. He said this appears to be a new scam involving both old and new players.
He challenged the Leader of the Opposition, Partap Bajwa, to raise this issue in the Assembly. Jakhar said that while the government is organising investment summits in the state, at the same time, it is sending buses 500 kilometres away to Rajasthan for painting instead of using industries in Jalandhar, and the government should clarify whose financial interests are behind this.
Launching a sharp attack on the government over the mining issue, Jakhar released government data showing that the state collected Rs 21.70 crore in royalty from legal mining, but Rs 79.29 crore from fines imposed on illegal mining. In addition, another Rs 89.23 crore has been shown as recovered, but its source is unclear.
He said these figures clearly indicate that illegal mining is far greater than legal mining, and that too under the protection of the government. He alleged that illegal mining cases are settled by imposing small fines while the rest of the money goes into unknown coffers.
Jakhar said that according to the latest orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), a truck caught in illegal mining should be fined Rs 4 lakh, but the government is imposing fines of only Rs 6,000, which he described as collusion. He also said the NGT has imposed Rs 180 crore in penalties on just 13 crushers, whereas there are more than 400 crushers in the state.
He further alleged that the government is now bringing a law in the Assembly to override the NGT order so that the loot of Punjab's natural resources can continue, and hidden collections from crushers and other operators can increase.
Jakhar said that Arvind Kejriwal had promised Rs 20,000 crore revenue from mining, and such revenue could be possible if the NGT rates were properly implemented. However, with only about Rs 21 crore earned from legal mining, the government has shown that the real mining happening is of Punjab's treasury and natural resources, and the money is going somewhere else.
He concluded by saying that the real face of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's government has been exposed, and people are now beginning to see the truth of illegal mining in broad daylight. According to him, the public will give their response in the 2027 elections. (ANI)