The Congress on Wednesday raised the issues of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops and the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in the Punjab Assembly, blaming the Aam Aadmi Party government for backtracking on its pre-poll promises, even as Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann asserted that the State’s Budget 2024-25 was the road map for progress and prosperity of Punjab.
Participating in the Budget discussion, Leader of the Opposition (Congress) Partap Singh Bajwa reminded the AAP about its pre-poll promises. Mr. Bajwa said not even a single word on MSP on crops had been spoken in the Budget. He claimed that the AAP leaders had promised to procure 22 crops at the MSP if they formed the government, but now the AAP government had backtracked. The farmers had been demanding MSP, hence the AAP must explain on the issue, he said.
Congress MLA, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, raised the question of the implementation of the OPS. He said it was evident that the notification for the OPS made by the Punjab government in 2022 was just to garner votes in other States, and it never had an intention to implement the same.
Mr. Mann said in a healthy democracy the suggestions and ideas of the elected representatives were always welcome but undue criticism just to attract the attention of the media was unfortunate. He said the Opposition, particularly the Congress, was acting irresponsibly and staging walkouts just to hog limelight.
