CHANDIGARH, July 10— The Punjab Vidhan Sabha convened for barely 11 minutes on the opening day of its two-day special session Wednesday, dedicating the brief proceedings to obituary references—most notably for Abohar cloth merchant Sanjay Verma, who was gunned down earlier this week by assailants linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
Balluana MLA Amandeep Singh Musafir proposed Verma’s name be added to the list of tributes, citing the brutal nature of his killing. The Congress, backing the move, said Verma’s murder had sparked fear across the Malwa region. “His killing has shaken communities in several districts,” said Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, urging clarity on the investigation.
Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan commended the Punjab Police for its “swift response” against the attackers. But Bajwa questioned the assertion, stating, “So far, no concrete detail has been offered on the actual steps taken by the police in this case.”
AAP leader Aman Arora asked that the names of the 260 victims of the Ahmedabad air crash in June also be included in the Obituary References. “These were lives lost in a national tragedy,” he said, calling for wider acknowledgement of the incident’s toll.
Noticeably absent from the proceedings were Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Ganieve Kaur Majithia, wife of Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who had recently taken oath as MLA.
The House is scheduled to reconvene Thursday for the remainder of the special session.
