Outnumbered and repeatedly interrupted, Congress MLAs had to walk out of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday amid a row over remarks attributed to party MLA Sukhpal Khaira. Outside the House, Opposition leaders accused the ruling AAP of twisting facts to blame Khaira for allegedly making disrespectful comments about women.
The row escalated after Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan asked Khaira to apologise before clarifying his remarks on women volunteers celebrating financial aid given by the AAP government. Khaira declined to apologise and said he stood by his remarks, leading the Congress to stage a walkout.
As the Congress legislators exited the House, AAP women MLAs also came outside and confronted them. While Congress leaders spoke to mediapersons, the women MLAs stood nearby raising slogans and accusing Khaira of insulting women.
The Congress MLAs later went to their party office in the Vidhan Sabha complex, where LoP Partap Bajwa said that a condemnation resolution should be brought against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for his alleged disparaging remarks about women. However, the resolution moved by the Congress was rejected by the Speaker.
“In the condemnation resolution, we accused the Chief Minister of using words like ‘Patola’, ‘tuhadi bhabi’ and ‘bharind’ while addressing a group of women on Sunday,” Bajwa told reporters outside the House.
Bajwa also condemned the AAP government’s claims of focusing on education and healthcare, saying neither the Chief Minister’s children study in government schools nor do ruling party leaders depend on government hospitals for treatment. “I wish good health to the Chief Minister, but he himself goes to a private hospital for treatment,” Bajwa said.
Khaira, who was not allowed to speak in the House, later told reporters that he had never insulted any woman and had only shared a reel made by a Haryana-based YouTuber, Dhanoa. He alleged that AAP’s “spin doctors” had twisted the facts to build a narrative against him and the Congress.
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