Valtoha walks out

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) legislator Virsa Singh Valtoha on Thursday staged a walkout from the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in protest after speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal allowed Congress MLA Raj Kumar Verka to raise the concerns of the Dalit community in the House.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) legislator Virsa Singh Valtoha on Thursday staged a walkout from the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in protest after speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal allowed Congress MLA Raj Kumar Verka to raise the concerns of the Dalit community in the House.

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During the zero hour, Verka accused the Akali-BJP government of ignoring the Dalits in the state where they were in largest concentration. Valtoha stood up and asked the Congress MLA to sit, saying the matter should be discussed not in the zero hour but during the budget debate.

He even asked the speaker to tell Verka to sit. When the speaker said the issue was of extreme importance, Valtoha got agitated and walked out of the House. When minister Madan Mohan Mittal also said that the issue be included in the budget debate, the Congress legislators stood up, raising slogans.