Congress MLAs stage walkout in Punjab Vidhan Sabha amid row over Sukhpal Khaira

Outnumbered, Congress MLAs had little choice but to walk out of the House in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday.

Outside, the Opposition MLAs accused the ruling AAP of twisting facts to blame Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira of making disrespectful comments against women.

The walkout came after Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan asked Khaira to apologise before explaining his comment on women volunteers celebrating the financial assistance given to women by the AAP government.

Refusing to apologise, Khaira said he stood by his statement, prompting the Congress to stage a walkout.

As the Congress MLAs exited the House, AAP women MLAs also rushed outside and confronted them. While Congress leaders addressed mediapersons, the women MLAs stood near them, raising slogans and accusing Khaira of disrespecting women.

The Congress MLAs later went to their party office inside the Vidhan Sabha, where Leader of Opposition Partap Bajwa demanded that a condemnation resolution be brought against CM Bhagwant Mann for his disparaging comments against women.

However, the condemnation resolution moved by them was rejected by the Speaker.

“In this condemnation resolution, we had accused the Chief Minister of using words like ‘patola’, ‘tuhadi bhabi’ and ‘bharind’ while addressing a group of women on Sunday,” Bajwa told mediapersons outside the House.

He also criticised the AAP government's claims of focusing on education and health, pointing out that neither the Chief Minister's children go to government schools nor do ruling party leaders rely on government health care for treatment.

"I wish good health to the Chief Minister, but he himself seeks treatment at a private hospital,” said Bajwa.

Khaira, who was not allowed to speak in the House, told mediapersons that he had never insulted any woman. “I only shared a reel made by a Haryana-based YouTuber, Dhanoa. The ‘spin doctors’ of AAP have twisted facts to write their own script against me and the Congress,” he said.