Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], May 1 (ANI): Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced a 15 per cent hike in the minimum daily wages for workers in both government and non-government sectors on the occassion of Labour Day on May 1.

This marks the first increase in workers' wages since 2013, said Mann on Friday during a one-day special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

'It is labourers' day, so labourers should certainly get a present,' Mann told ANI after the proceedings of the 16th Punjab Legislative Assembly.

Earlier in the day there was high drama in the Punjab Assembly with a heated confrontation breaking out out between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the opposition Congress over a demand for an alcohol test on Mann. They claimed that Mann appeared to have come 'drunk' to the Assembly.

Congress MLAs stormed the well and demanded that the Chief Minister undergo a breath analyser test. They urged the Speaker to initiate action, while the party also called for dope testing of all MLAs and an independent medical check by PGIMER.

LoP in the Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa also criticised Mann for allegedly being drunk and called for an immediate dope test.'What should we even do coming to the Assembly where the Chief Minister is in an inebriated state? What is the purpose of holding a session when the head of the state is completely sozzled? We demand that everyone's test be conducted,' he said.

Responding to the accusations, Mann told ANI, 'They have no issues to raise. What test should be done?'

Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira demanded that an alcohol test be conducted.

In a post on X, Khaira wrote, 'Cm @BhagwantMann was found drunk in the Vidhan Sabha today! We @INCIndia walked out of the house demanding from the Speaker @SpeakerSandhwan that an alcohol test of Cm @BhagwantMann be conducted, and we offered to undertake the test ourselves too.'

https://x.com/SukhpalKhaira/status/2050126088010149903?s=20

'The conduct of @AamAadmiParty CM Bhagwant Mann had lowered the prestige of the august house of Vidhan Sabha. We @INCPunjab MLAs urge @ArvindKejriwal to take action against CM for impropriety and that too by being drunk in the assembly-Khaira,' the post read.

Moreover, the Chief Minister emphasised that negative news and rumours are circulating, claiming that members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are defecting and are creating confusion among the general public.

'All speculations have been put to rest today regarding all those who were saying that 65 or 40 MLAs of AAP are going away,' he said.

Meanwhile, the AAP won the confidence motion in the 117-member Punjab Assembly. AAP has a majority with 94 MLAs, while 16 MLAs belong to the Congress, one MLA is from the BSP, three MLAs are from SAD. There are two MLAs from BJP and one Independent MLA.

The confidence vote comes in the backdrop of a political setback for AAP on April 24, when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha members, including Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak and Harbhajan Singh, resigned and joined the BJP. (ANI)