CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Thursday expressed surprise over Captain Amarinder Singh's continued arrogance, disregard and even disrespect towards the collective wisdom of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. "The House is repository of the collective wisdom and trust of the people of Punjab.

Under the Constitution of India, it has "certain duties, responsibilities and privileges which every member of the House, including Amarinder Singh, are well aware of. Badal questioned that how could one cast insults on the integrity of the House and still want to remain a member of it? "

Talking to media persons, the Chief Minister said that Amarinder in fact seemed to treat himself above not just the legislature but all four pillars of democracy , that is the media, the judiciary, the legislature and the executive. "Of the four pillars of democracy, Amarinder Singh has already castigated the legislature, he has no faith in the executive (unless he is the executive), he had in the past threatened to file cases against the journalists and newspapers, including that of Hindustan Times, reporting his corruption to courts, as in the Ludhiana City centre scam. In the aftermath of the House decision, is Amarinder now expressing a lack of faith in the judiciary also?"  Badal wondered.

Badal  appreciated that everyone, including the media and the Opposition,  by and large , have maintained the dignity of the House and have refrained from casting aspersions on its functioning honestly . "The Congress leaders like Mrs. Margeret Alva, Mrs R K Bhattal, Bir Devinder Singh and  Jagmeet Singh Brar have all refrained from commenting on the proceedings of the House and the report of the Committee of the House. Amarinder is alone even in the Congress to continue to speak irresponsibly against the constitutionally august bodies and institutions.," said  Badal

Badal said that the executive was not involved in the present case at any stage. "I only want to underline that the matter was taken up by the House itself on a complaint filed by the Congress chief spokesperson,  Bir Devinder Singh, and the decision to set up the committee was also taken by the House during the Amarinder  regime when Dr. Kewal Krishnan was the speaker. The executive has nothing to do with it. All the witnesses who appeared against are also either Congressmen or bureaucrats who gave the same opinions during the Amarinder regime. No SAD or BJP member or person has any role in this nor have any of them appeared as complainant or witness against Amarinder"

Badal expressed appreciation for the media which has shown great regard for the House while reporting throughout.

Wondering why Amarinder or the Congress did not avail themselves of the opportunity to place their case before the people of the state on the floor of the House,  Badal said that he was amazed at the utter silence of the entire Congress party in general and Captain Amarinder Singh in particular over the issues involved in the report of the special Committee set up  by the House with the unqualified consent of the Congress.

The decision was reached after deliberations of a joint committee of the House. It was announced by the House. From here onwards, it will go to the judiciary. The media has been tracking the case from the very beginning. The executive is  so far nowhere in the picture," the Chief Minister said.

He expressed surprise at Amarinder Singh's and the Congress's decision to not avail of any opportunity to put up any defence on the floor of the House. While Amarinder chose to remain away from the House for most of the time, the Congress seemed very reluctant to defend him, an understandable situation in view of the documentary evidence and testimonies before the House committee, Badal said.  

Badal said he has been amused by Amarinder Singh's defence that it was a matter for the previous House and should have died with it. "Shorn of all the frills, Amarinder Singh is saying when the scam happened during his tenure, why is someone else probing it? What kind of defence is it? And he expects not only the common people, but even the House of the People to lap it up,"  Badal said.

The Chief Minister also wondered how Captain Amarinder Singh continued to treat the collective wisdom of the House and display utter disregard and arrogance towards it.

 "The House enjoys the privilege granted under the Constitution, the MLAs enjoy the privilege being members of the august House. But I think only and only Amarinder Singh seems to enjoying the privilege of criticizing the House," the CM said.