Punjab budget session off to a rocky start as Congress stages walkout on day 1

Day one of the Punjab Assembly’s Budget Session in Chandigarh was embroiled with the ruling AAP and opposition Congress launching jabs at each other over Governor Banwarilal Purohit’s use of the term “my government” in his address.
The governor began delivering his address and referred to the AAP administration as “my government,” which sparked chaos among the Treasury benches and Congress members.

Partap Singh Bajwa, the leader of the opposition, objected and stated that the governor should not refer to the state government as his administration because the AAP government had addressed him as “chosen” and itself as “elected” members.

“They (the AAP MLAs) have not accepted you as one of them and have not responded to issues raised by you,” the opposition leader stated at the budget session.

Following the objection to the phrase, Governor Purohit stated that he would refer to the ruling AAP government as ‘government’ and not ‘my government’.

The objections, despite the ordeal, did not end there as Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann then stated that the governor should refer to the AAP government as “my government”, which ensued CM Mann and the leader of the opposition,Partap Singh Bajwa, going back and forth with arguments. Finally, the governor stated that he would refer to the government as “my government.”

Later in the session, Partap Singh Bajwa again objected, asking if the Governor had received necessary information from the CM Mann-led government, to which Governor Purohit stated that he was confident that they would.

The reply, however, appeared to be unsatisfactory for the opposition as it prompted Congress to stage a walkout despite Governor Purohit requesting them to stay in the session.