Chandigarh, March 7 -- Police used water cannons and detained hundreds of Punjab Congress leaders and workers on Friday after they tried to force their way through barricades to 'gherao' the state assembly as part of a protest against the AAP over the state government's alleged failure to fulfil its promises, deteriorating law and order situation and the state's economy.

The party workers gathered outside the Congress Bhawan here and tried to march towards the assembly on the first day of the budget session, but were stopped by heavy police deployment and barricades.

Addressing the protesters, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring alleged that the AAP government had failed on multiple fronts. "The state debt had crossed...