Accusing Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of “intimidating” party’s MLAs, the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on Tuesday decided to boycott the proceedings of the Punjab Assembly in his presence until he apologises.
CLP leader Partap Singh Bajwa said the Congress MLAs won’t participate in the proceedings of the Assembly till the CM was present in the House. He said the Congress would participate in the House proceedings only in the absence of the Mann, till the time he apologised.
This was followed by a heated exchange between Mann and Bajwa in the House on Monday. “The CM did not express regret over using unparliamentary language on Monday. We will attend the House on Tuesday till he is not there. When he arrives, we will walk out,” said Bajwa, who came to the House at the end of the Question Hour.
As soon as Bhagwant Mann arrived in the House, the Congress members walked out of the Punjab Assembly. Though initially, it appeared that the MLAs were in no mood to walk out, but after Mann taunted them about the decision to walk out, the Congress legislators walked out.
Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira, however, remained in the House, demanding that he be allowed to clarify on the allegations levelled by Rural Development Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal, of illegal land being grabbed in his native village.
Khaira came to the Well of the House to protest. He got into a verbal duel with CM Mann, but refused to be cowed down. Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan intervened and said he would allow Khaira to speak in some time. Khaira went back and took his seat. The CM again taunted him saying he was supposed to walk out of the Assembly as decided by the CLP.