Punjab Assembly special session: Cong MLA named and escorted out; CM, LoP spar

Chandigarh, Dec 30 (PTI) Punjab Vidhan Sabha's special one-day session held to oppose the VB-G RAM G Act on Tuesday was fraught with drama as Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira was named for disrupting the speech of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and escorted out by the watch and ward staff.

The session also witnessed heated exchanges between Mann and Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa after the chief minister objected to the Congress leader asking him, "Who are you?" The Aam Aadmi Party government had called a special session to oppose the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G Act) passed during the recently concluded winter session of Parliament, replacing the UPA-era Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

A discussion took place on the resolution brought out against the VB-G RAM G Act.

When the chief minister began speaking, Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira rose from his seat and rushed to the Well of the House demanding that the Speaker allow him to take part in the discussion.

With his speech disrupted, Mann asked Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan to bring the House in order.

The Speaker reminded Khaira that he was the first person to speak in the House during the session and said it was not necessary that only one person would speak on every issue.

As Khaira continued to protest, Mann took a swipe at the Congress, saying, "His party does not give him time to speak." The treasury benches slammed Khaira for disrupting House proceedings.

The Speaker told Khaira that Congress was given 29 minutes to speak, against the allotted time of 16 minutes.

Meanwhile, some more Congress MLAs joined Khaira in the Well, pressing that he be allowed to take part in the discussion.

The Speaker then warned Khaira that he would name him if he continued to disrupt the proceedings and asked him to go back to his seat.

As the unruly scenes continued, the Speaker named Khaira and directed the watch and ward staff to take him out of the House.

"He is disturbing the session. They (Congress) came here with a plan not to allow me to speak because I will expose them," said Mann.

Lashing out at Khaira, Mann said he is a "power hungry" politician keen on getting people's attention.

"Sukhpal Singh Khaira indulges in cheap tantrums to hog media limelight, especially when his party is contemplating a change of leadership. Instead of raising issues of the state and its people, he is more concerned with personal publicity, due to which he doesn't even hesitate to violate the decorum of the House," the chief minister said.

He then asked the Congress MLAs supporting Khaira to sit back and asked whether they were not in favour of the MGNREGA.

Criticising the Congress MLAs for creating a ruckus, he asked them to either leave the House or sit back.

To this, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa retorted, "Who are you?" "You are asking who I am? Didn't you get to know that in the 2022 Assembly polls?" Mann asked Bajwa.

Both Mann and Bajwa then engaged in a verbal duel, even as the Speaker asked the Congress MLAs to return to their seats. PTI CHS RUK RUK