"I would not use the word 'boycott'. I think there was no need for this session."
The Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab is holding a two-day special assembly session to further its own agenda and wasting taxpayers' money, the BJP said here while announcing it is staying away from the proceedings.
The special assembly session began on Monday. Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma, an MLA from Pathankot, said, "This session was not needed, it is a wastage of taxpayer's money."
"They should have called a session on the drug issue, brought a white paper to discuss it and informed the House how many lives have been lost due to the scourge and what has been done to control the drug menace," he said.
On whether BJP members attend the sitting on Tuesday, Mr Sharma said, "I think this session was not needed. Why should we be part of a session where they have to further their own agenda only to please (Arvind) Kejriwal and to divert attention from issues." The BJP has two MLAs in the Punjab Legislative Assembly.
Asked if the BJP was boycotting the special session, Mr Sharma replied, "I would not use the word 'boycott'. I think there was no need for this session. There is nothing to be gained from it." "They (government) did not even circulate the agenda of this session. What Kejriwal tells them, that is the agenda for them," he alleged.
He also recalled the special session held by the Bhagwant Mann government last year after levelling allegations of "Operation Lotus", and said no information has been given till date about action taken in the matter.
Even then, the BJP had said that the Mann government was only trying to divert attention from issues and fooling the people, he added.
Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa on Friday wrote to the Punjab Assembly speaker, seeking the tabling of an action-taken report on 'Operation Lotus', an alleged bid by the BJP to topple the state government last year, in the upcoming session of the House.
Mr Sharma said Bhagwant Mann should talk about what his government has done for Punjab in the last 15 months.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)