4 min readChandigarhUpdated: May 4, 2026 02:53 PM IST
Punjab’s Vidhan Sabha briefly turned into a political theatre when Bhagwant Mann faced Opposition claims, led by Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira that he arrived “spirited” in more ways than one. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) quickly slipped into damage-control mode. Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan made a timely exit, leaving Deputy Speaker Jai Krishan Rodi soon after the Congress staged a walkout.
Meanwhile, the hunt was on for Harpal Singh Cheema, busy receiving President Droupadi Murmu, as he is a known baiter for Khaira. Cheema rushed in, words flew, and the House resembled a debate show. The Speaker reappeared, adjourned proceedings, and by afternoon, Mann returned with a confidence motion because nothing says control like raising the stakes. The Congress? Absent. The sitting was about ‘plenty of noise, quick exits, dramatic entries and a confidence vote that faced no confidence test at all.
Convenient amnesia
When the AAP government, shaken by desertions of its Rajya Sabha MPs, tabled its confidence motion in the Vidhan Sabha, it needed numbers. And loyalty. Preferably, both in the same seat. Jalandhar MLA Raman Arora, once pushed to the fringes, carrying the weight of vigilance cases, arrests, and a political silence that followed his release from jail last September, was the man of quiet importance. Arora’s reappearance in the Assembly during the crucial session did not go unnoticed.
Nor, evidently, did it go unrewarded. Even before he could fully settle back into the rhythms of legislative business, his withdrawn security detail was quietly restored, almost as if the system had been waiting for his attendance register to be marked. In a state where allegations of corruption can often be as persistent as they are inconvenient, the episode suggests a certain administrative elasticity.
Cases may linger, but priorities shift. And when governments face arithmetic anxieties, memory can be remarkably short. For Arora, the confidence motion delivered more than political signalling. It brought back the comforts of state protection.
signals and shifting loyalties
During the latest Vidhan Sabha sitting, Mann didn’t just acknowledge Congress MLA Rana Gurjit Singh’s presence; he spotlighted it by saying Rana ji is also sitting. This was not without a knowing smile that suggested there was more to the acknowledgement than what met the eye. And then came the real news. Mann went a step further, casually projecting into 2027, suggesting that Rana Gurjit’s son, an Independent MLA, Rana Inder Partap, might well find himself seated in the AAP camp. It wasn’t quite an invitation, but a prediction.
In Punjab’s Assembly politics, such off-the-cuff remarks rarely come without a reason. Whether it was friendly banter, strategic bait, or an early casting call for future alignments is open to interpretation. But in a House where numbers matter and loyalties are increasingly fluid, even a passing comment can double up as a signal. After all, in this season of shifting sands, today’s aside can easily become tomorrow’s headline.
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Times change, and so do the icons
The AAP first removed portraits of Mahatma Gandhi from Punjab government offices, replacing them with those of B R Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh. It was a symbolic shift to convey a subtle message that the party swore by Bhagat Singh’s spirit of sacrifice and Ambedkar’s constitutional vision. The move was widely seen as a shift in the set of icons representing official state spaces.
