Thursday, 12 December 2024
Thursday, 12 December 2024
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi met Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday and urged him to expunge remarks made by BJP MPs against him, and ensure the House functions smoothly.
Gandhi said the BJP has been making "baseless" allegations against him to "distract" attention from the Adani issue, but he would not be provoked by any of these charges. "It is very simple, they do not want a discussion on the Adani issue and want to distract from the Adani issue. You know, we will not leave them at the end," he said.
He also said he and his party wanted a discussion on the Constitution in Lok Sabha starting December 13, and asserted they will ensure the House functions, even though it is not their responsibility.
"I had a meeting with the Speaker and I told him that our party is saying that derogatory comments against me be expunged. The Speaker said he will examine them. They (the BJP) continue to make all kinds of baseless allegations, but we have decided that we want the House to function.
"Whatever provocation they do, we will allow them. But we will try and run the House. We would want that somehow the House functions. We want there should be a debate and discussion. We want that there should be a debate on the Constitution on December 13," Gandhi told reporters outside Parliament.
"Though it is not our responsibility to run the House, we will allow the House to function 100 percent," Gandhi said.
Earlier in the day, Congress Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi wrote to the Speaker, urging him to examine the party's complaint against BJP MP Nishikant Dubey's "defamatory remarks" against Rahul Gandhi and remove them from the record.
Gandhi was asked about the BJP alleging links between the Congress leadership and US billionaire investor George Soros, he said, "They will continue to make allegations, but whatever charges they make, we would want the House to function. Whatever charges they make against me, let them."
Earlier in the day, Gandhi and Congress MPs were joined by some other INDIA bloc MPs in greeting BJP members with placards and national flags, as they urged them to allow the House to function.
Rahul Gandhi also met Union minister for defence Rajnath Singh and sought to present the flag but Singh moved on after exchanging pleasantries.
Gandhi’s promise of letting the Parliament function smoothly assumes importance as both the houses have witnessed repeated adjournments for the past three days over the George Soros issue.
Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day Wednesday afternoon without any business amid uproar by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition over no confidence motion against Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and the Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros issue.
The BJP party President J.P. Nadda accused the Congress of standing with billionaire investor George Soros to destabilise the country, and demanded a discussion.
He criticised the Congress for the opposition's no-confidence notice against the vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. He said it was an attempt by the opposition party to divert attention from the issue of "ties between the top Congress leadership and Soros".
"I want to bring to your notice that for the last two days our people are raising the issue of what relationship does the Congress top leadership have with George Soros. What is the relationship between Soros and Sonia Gandhi?," Nadda asked.
On the no-confidence notice against Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, Nadda said the Opposition was diverting attention from the real issue by making accusations against the Chair.
"This is a design to deviate the attention of the nation from the issue of the sovereignty of the country and the threat to internal and external security and the Congress has contributed to it. They are becoming a tool in their (foreign forces') hands in supporting them and there should be a discussion on this.
In the Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 2 pm on Wednesday amid a face-off between government and opposition benches over alleged linkages between the Congress leadership and US-billionaire George Soros-backed outfits and the alleged failure of the government to handle the Manipur situation.
Trouble broke out in the House when deputy leader of the Opposition Congress member Gaurav Gogoi raised the issue of violence in Manipur and accused the BJP of raising the Soros issue to hide their failures in the northeastern state.
“When will PM Modi visit Manipur? Has he forgotten it is part of India? The Home minister is monitoring the situation, he could not bring the normalcy, instead the smuggling of drugs, illegal wood is increasing, he should come to the Parliament and talk on the issue. The BJP government to conceal their failures on Manipur, Adani, is using 'George Soros' as a weapon," said Gogoi to the PTI.
Union minister for commerce Piyush Goyal hit back accusing the Congress leadership of having links with Soros-backed outfits that were allegedly working to destabilise India.
