Punjab Budget session: Congress MLAs stage walkout twice as Khaira not allowed to speak

Congress legislators on Monday strongly protested in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, expressing their displeasure over party colleague, Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, not being given an opportunity to speak in the House despite repeated requests. They staged two walkouts on the issue.

The first walkout occurred during zero hour on day two of the budget session when Khaira requested speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan to allow him to raise issues in the House. Leader of opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa also got up in support of Khaira and urged the speaker to permit “our (Congress leaders’ new colleague) and your (Sandhwan’s) former colleague” to make his point. He stressed that the Bholath MLA wanted to raise important issues. Khaira was in the AAP before rejoining the Congress in 2021.

In response, Sandhwan countered, “Is there any opposition leader whom I have not allowed time to speak? But this is not the way to request for time.” He further asserted that it was the speaker’s prerogative to decide who would be given an opportunity to speak in the House. Zero hour, which follows the question hour, is the period, usually ranging from half an hour to an hour depending on the discretion of the speaker, during which members are allowed to draw the attention of the House to pressing issues of public interest.

A few minutes later, Khaira again got up requesting the speaker to let him raise farmer-related issues. Bajwa, Aruna Chaudhary, Pargat Singh and some other Congress MLAs also stood up in Khaira’s support, requesting the speaker to let him speak. However, Sandhwan allowed Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar to make his point. When Khaira expressed displeasure for not being given a chance to speak, the speaker told him that he was stopping an honourable member from raising issues. All Congress members, except Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh and Shahkot MLA Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia, went to the well of the House before staging the walkout to register their protest. Rana Gurjeet and Laddi kept sitting for a while and then walked out of the House to join their party colleagues. Khaira and Rana Gurjeet have been at odds for a long time.

The Congress members staged the second walkout during the discussion on the governor’s address. Bajwa again requested the speaker to be given an opportunity for Khaira to participate in the discussion. However, Sandhwan said it was his prerogative to decide who would speak. He then called Independent MLA Rana Inder Partap Singh’s name as the next speaker, which upset Khaira and he walked into the well of the House. Bajwa and other Congress MLAs also stood up in Khaira’s support. However, the speaker did not budge, leading to a walkout by the Congress legislators.

Accompanied by Bajwa and several other Congress MLAs, Khaira later expressed displeasure over not being allowed to raise important issues related to farmers. “There is bulldozer and police rule in Punjab today. The way farmers were treated, protest sites dismantled and their tractor trolleys, refrigerates, gas stoves and cylinders and other goods stolen is unacceptable,” he told reporters outside the House.

The Congress MLA said that of the 132 tractor trolleys of farmers were stolen, only a few were recovered so far, including four from a place which belonged to a person close to a legislator. “Where SKM leaders recovered the tractor trolleys and handed over the people to police, FIRs were registered against unknown persons. I wanted to draw the attention of the House to all these issues,” he said.

White paper needed on govt recruitment: Bajwa

Earlier, Bajwa sought a white paper on government recruitment in the state with complete details of those given jobs during the present government. He said the white paper should be presented in the House with the names of those recruited, names of their parents, village and department along with details of how many of them were Punjabis and non-Punjabis. “We see the recruitment numbers daily on hoardings, advertisements on TV and in newspapers. This document is needed so that we know how many aspirants have been selected from which district,” the leader of opposition said during zero hour.

Stringent law to curb illegal weapons: Rana

Rana Inder Partap Singh, Independent MLA from Sultanpur Lodhi, demanded a law with a provision of 10-year jail for possession of illegal weapons. He said that the biggest law and order problem in Punjab was illegal weapons and their use in crimes. “People get arrested and come out on bail after one month. There should be a law with a provision of 10 years of jail for possession of illegal weapons. This will act as a deterrent,” he said. The Independent MLA also stressed the need to strengthen policing by cutting the number of policemen deployed for security duty and transferring them to police stations.