Chandigarh, Jan 15: Undeterred by the ban and appeals against it, Punjab Congress went ahead and screened the controversial CD, in which Akali minister Bikram Singh Majithia was reportedly shown hurling abuses at a Congress MLA in Assembly, prompting Speaker to rush to Delhi seeking opinion on the piquant situation.
The one minute long clippings of the CD was played on a number of occasions Sunday at a political rally of the Congress at the ongoing Maghi ‘Mela' (fair) in Muktsar district.
A number of senior leaders from the state Congress including Leader of Opposition Sunil Jakhar were present at the Muktsar rally. Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal was also there, though the CD was not played during the time he remained present.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today said he took “full responsibility for screening of the video clip showing Revenue and Public Relations Minister and Youth Akali Dal President Bikram Singh Majithia hurling abuses at Congress MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh in the assembly (session last month at Chandigarh)”.
Amarinder remained defiant, saying the footage was already in the public domain and its “ban was irrelevant”.
The video clip was earlier shown at the main Sector 17 Commercial Centre here by the Congress. Punjab Assembly Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal rushed to Delhi to meet his lawmaker friends to seek opinion on the piquant situation that has arisen after airing of the CD, which showed Majithia allegedly hurling abuses at Congress MLA Rana Gurjit Singh on the floor of the Assembly.
“I met some of my friends in Delhi today. I had gone there to seek a full understanding of law in this case. I wanted to know what is done in situations when something live goes on air, like the Parliament has its own channel, which afterwards is expunged by the Speaker.
“In a day or two, I will get accurate legal position in the matter,” Atwal, who had earlier also served as the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker, told PTI over phone.
Amarinder claimed that the Speaker's order of expunging it from the Assembly records or banning its display “was irrelevant since it was already in the public domain.”
Since it (the video clip) was broadcast live on news channels with Speaker's permission only, how can it be expunged now, Amarinder said.
He said, it was more than obvious and clearly audible what Majithia had said in the assembly. “All the members present in the House, the journalists in the media gallery and everybody heard what Majithia said and still he (the Speaker) was claiming that he did not hear anything,” he claimed.
Referring to the Speaker “exploring the options of taking legal action against the Congress MLAs for screening the video and seeking opinion from constitutional experts”, the PCC president said, “he (the Speaker) should better examine his own role and constitutional duty first.”
Moreover, he told the Speaker that he had ordered the screening of the video at the Muktsar rally and none of his MLAs should be held responsible for that.
He asked the Speaker as why he was not prepared to take any action against Majithia “even now when the whole world knows what he has spoken inside the august chamber he (the Speaker) presides over.”
