LAHORE, June 22: The Punjab Assembly opposition members on Thursday strongly condemned the treasury in general and the chief minister in particular for bulldozing and approving 42 demands for grants in the absence of opposition.

Speaking at a news conference after the assembly session at committee room, opposition leader Qasim Zia said the opposition had staged a walkout to express solidarity with its senior member Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan, who was denied the right to speak on the floor of the house.

He said the treasury could have solved the issue by bringing opposition MPAs back in the assembly, but the chief minister himself restrained his members from doing so, which was against parliamentary norms.

After staging walkout, he said, opposition MPAs continued to wait in the lobby but no treasury member came to take them back in the house as per parliamentary traditions.

“We did want to come back to the house and contribute positively by discussing the six cut motions, but the treasury did not call them back,” he regretted.

Mr Zia said opposition would join the house on Friday (today) as boycott was meant to protest against speaker Afzal Sahi’s one-sided support to treasury benches.

Opposition deputy leader Rana Sanaullah said treasury benches had acted against parliamentary traditions by passing all the 42 government demands for grants, including six selected for discussion, in the absence of opposition.

He said the chief minister should have shown a little courtesy by avoiding voting on the six demands for grants in the absence of opposition. He said all these demands for grants should have been passed in the presence of opposition, but the government was afraid of criticism.

Mr Sanaullah said Afzal Sahi had given time to a turncoat, Riazul Hasan Chohan, despite his assertions that he would damage the atmosphere of discussion in the assembly. Instead, he said, the speaker did not allow opposition members to confront Mr Chohan.

He said opposition was in the assembly to raise voice of millions of people of Punjab. He said it was a misapprehension of the treasury that it could run the house in the absence of opposition.

Rana Aftab and Asghar Gujjar said the chief minister could not stand criticism. However, they said, the house could function smoothly if the speaker would take the opposition along.