CHANDIGARH: Punjab assembly Tuesday passed a resolution condemning Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira’s social media post in connection with the Rs 1,000 monthly assistance for women announced by AAP govt in the budget. Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema criticised Congress for “insulting women”. Khaira was not in the House and Leader of Opposition Pratap Singh Bajwa apologised for his remarks, Vibhor Mohan reports. Khaira later posted a video on X defending his stand, arguing he only quoted what a YouTuber said about women dancing on the announcement of the stipend. The row began after Khaira shared a Facebook video showing some women dancing to celebrate the scheme. Cheema raised the issue in question hour, prompting protests from AAP benches and forcing the speaker to adjourn the House for half an hour. Bajwa informed the House that he had spoken with Khaira and that the MLA, who was out of town, would appear Wednesday to clarify his position.Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan conducted a voice vote on the resolution. When the motion was first put to vote, most Congress MLAs remained silent. The speaker conducted the vote twice more, ruling that continued silence would be treated as opposition to the motion before declaring it adopted.
