The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) legislators on Friday said Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu and his team had betrayed Punjabis by refusing to vote against a motion calling for the adjournment of the Assembly sine die proving they were not interested in raising the issues of the people and were fighting to fulfill their petty ambitions only.

Former minister Bikram Singh Majithia said it was shocking that when parliamentary affairs minister Brahm Mohindra moved a resolution calling for adjournment of the House sine die, the SAD legislators called for a division of votes. He said despite getting an opportunity to oppose the motion Sidhu did not do so. “Neither did several ministers who had earlier gone on record to state that they had lost faith in Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh,” the SAD leader said.

He said in case Sidhu as well as the ministers and legislators associated with him were serious about raising the issues of people they would have opposed the motion which would have resulted in extension of the session. Majithia said the Congress party’s refusal to extend the session to discuss the burning issues of the State proved that neither the Thoko Taali Congress nor Congress Amarinder were serious about Punjab or its problems.

“In fact it seems they are playing a fixed match and running away from facing the people,” he said. Asking the Congress party not to try to befool the people again and again, the SAD leader said “We have earlier demanded that Navjot Sidhu and his group bring a no-confidence motion against the chief minister and assured all support to it. We did so because this government is utterly insensitive to the needs of the people and has betrayed each and every section of society,” he said.

“Farmers did not get the complete loan waiver. Farm suicide victim families did not get government jobs. No promise made to the youth or the weaker sections was fulfilled. Government employees continue to suffer but the government is impervious to all this. By failing to move a no-confidence motion, Sidhu has proved that he is part and parcel of this failed government and no amount of theatrics can absolve him of the guilt of deceiving Punjabis by failing to implement any of the promises made to them, he said. The SAD leader also lambasted Sidhu for failing to get any of the measures announced by him including providing power at Rs Three per unit passed in the Assembly session today.