As the Punjab Vidhan Sabha held its special session on International Labour Day, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) organised a parallel “People’s Assembly” near its party office, intensifying the political confrontation in the state.The symbolic session was led by state president Jattvibeil Jakhar and working president Ashwani Sharma, along with senior leaders including Tarun Chugh, Vikram Sawhney, Vijay Sampla and Tikshan Sood.The venue was set up to resemble the Assembly, complete with a speaker’s chair and structured seating. Former Deputy Speaker Charanjit Atwal presided over the mock proceedings.The session began with the national anthem, while organisers announced that there would be no zero hour, question hour, or calling attention motions.Before the proceedings, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa demanded a minimum daily wage of Rs 600 for unskilled labour, drawing comparison with Haryana. He also questioned the need for a confidence motion by the AAP government, alleging internal instability and claiming that around 50 AAP MLAs were in contact with the BJP.During the event, Jakhar raised concerns over drug abuse in Punjab, citing claims of over 1,600 drug-related deaths during the current regime and sharing multiple anecdotal cases from affected families. He also referred to gang violence cases, including the killing of Sidhu Moosewala, saying the state was “running on Ram Bharose.”The session concluded with a one-minute silence in memory of victims of drugs and violence, as the BJP used the platform to highlight governance failures and contrast its narrative with the ruling party’s ongoing confidence motion debate inside the Assembly.