Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, for whom it's the maiden session in the treasury bench, sat composed when the ruling party legislators trained guns at Amarinder, hitting him below the belt.

Raking up the issue of Amarinder's Pak friend, Akali MLA Virsa Singh Valtoha called the former CM a "fraud" and a "characterless" leader. Interestingly, all this and much more verbal assault against Amarinder was to empty Opposition benches during the reply on Governor's address after Congress MLAs staged a walkout.

In an attempt to bring out the contrast, MLA Amarjit Shahi spoke about Amarinder's fondness for hard drinks and Sukhbir's decision to get himself baptised before his coronation as the Deputy CM.

But the striking part in today's session was the "weak" posturing of the Opposition Congress MLAs in front of a united and aggressive team of ruling legislators, who blunted everything that came their way.

Missing in action were leader of Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and several other senior Congress leaders, who are in New Delhi. The reigns of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) were with senior Congress leader Avtar Singh Brar.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal congratulated Brar for his discharge of duty in the absence of Bhattal. The CM even wished him the post of the leader of Opposition.

At a time when ruling MLAs were gunning for the first-time MLA Sukhpal Khaira, his support from the Congress camp was insignificant.

The Opposition's response was muted and Khaira faced verbal onslaught singly on the floor of the House. When the Opposition returned after a walkout, Khaira said, "My self-respect has been badly hurt. The CM should regret the utterances. Is using un-parliamentary language sportsmanship?"

Earlier after the walkout, the Congress MLAs got together to draw out a strategy to counter the "aggressive" developments inside. Party sources said even as Ajit Singh Mofar and Kewal Dhillon stressed a strong reaction in view of the utterances against Khaira, Brar was initially reluctant for an apology from the CM. Later, he demanded it on the floor of the House, only to walk out again.

‘Reduce diesel price’

The Assembly unanimously passed a resolution, urging the Centre to provide diesel at 25 per cent less than the market price to the farmers. The resolution urged the Centre to give the price of agri-produce according to the recommendations of the Dr M S Swaminathan committee. The resolution also talked about lowering the interest rate for farmers to 4 per cent.