Congress MLAs stage walkout during governor's address in Punjab Assembly

Chandigarh, Mar 21 (PTI) Congress MLAs staged a walkout from the Punjab Assembly on the opening day of the budget session on Friday in protest against the alleged assault of an army colonel and the detention of farmers.
    Governor Gulab Chand Kataria was addressing the House when Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa rose from his seat and sought to draw attention towards the alleged assault of the army colonel and his son in Patiala and the detention of farmer leaders.
    The governor paused for a moment before resuming his address.
    The other Congress MLAs, who were wearing black armbands, also rose from their seats.
    The Congress legislators then rushed to the Well of the House and started raising slogans against the Punjab government. They were carrying placards that bore messages criticising the state government over the detention of farmers.
    Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath had accused 12 police officials of thrashing him and his son over a parking dispute in Patiala on the intervening night of March 13 and 14.
    The Punjab Police detained several farmer leaders, including Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, in Mohali on Wednesday as they were returning after a meeting with a central delegation led by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Chandigarh.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)