Since Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit refused to summon the Budget session until he had sought legal advice on the tweets and letter written by CM Bhagwant Mann, the Punjab Government plans to appeal to the Supreme Court on Monday.
Mann announced the decision by saying, “Glimpses of the world’s largest democracy… Go to the Supreme Court to make mayor… Go to the Supreme Court to make deputy mayor… To conduct the Budget session, the Punjab Vidhan Sabha must go to the Supreme Court… Democracies are still in search.”
Earlier in the day, in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, the CM spoke about the standoff with the Governor, claiming that Raj Bhawans were becoming BJP headquarters and Governors were acting as star campaigners. The elected take decisions in a democracy, not the selected. “The AAP knows how to fight its battles and cannot be intimidated by the ED or the CBI,” he said.
In a letter sent to the CM on Thursday, when the AAP government held its first Progressive Punjab Investors’ Summit, the Governor said he would decide whether or not to allow the Budget session on March 3, only after consulting a lawyer regarding the CM Mann’s “extremely derogatory and patently constitutional tweets and letter” in response to his letter earlier this month.
Despite advice to tone down his stance against the Governor from some confidants, the Chief Minister decided to take the fight head on. The government also helped the Governor with logistics for a wedding in his family scheduled for Monday in an effort to appease him.
Nevertheless, many of his Cabinet colleagues and senior AAP leaders also believed that the government could not buckle under pressure.
