Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla ignored his “detailed reply” to the allegations levelled against him by BJP leaders in the Parliament over his “democracy under attack” in India remarks in the UK.
Referring to the expunging of certain remarks made by Gandhi in Parliament targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the former Congress chief said he wrote a detailed reply to the Lok Sabha speaker on the matter.
In his first press conference since he was disqualified from Lok Sabha, Gandhi said when he asked the Lok Sabha speaker to allow him to speak in the parliament, Birla rejected his request and asked him to have a cup of tea with him. “I went to the Speaker sir’s chamber and asked why he was not allowing me to speak. He smiled and said that he can’t allow that. He then asked me to have a cup of tea with him,” he was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.
Gandhi claimed that he never sought foreign intervention in his remarks made in the UK and accused Union ministers of “lying” against him in Parliament. He said he wanted to respond but was not allowed. “My speech made in Parliament was expunged, and later I wrote a detailed reply to the Lok Sabha Speaker. Some ministers lied about me, that I sought help from foreign powers. But there is no such thing I have done. I will not stop asking questions, I will keep questioning the relationship between PM Modi and Adani,” he said.
The former Wayanad MP has refused to back down and said he would continue to defend democracy in the country even if he is disqualified from Parliament for life or jailed and claimed he was debared because Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scared of of his next speech in Parliament on the Adani issue and alleged that the “whole game” was by “panic-stricken” BJP government to distract people from the issue.
The remarks have triggered a massive political row, with the BJP accusing Gandhi of maligning India on foreign soil and seeking external interventions.
Gandhi had on Tuesday asserted that he has the right to respond in Parliament to the “totally baseless” and “unfair charges” hurled at him by senior ministers in the Lok Sabha over his London remarks.
“As a result of these allegations, and the rules invoked by these individuals, it is only appropriate that you kindly allow me a right to reply as contained in Rule 357 which allows for ‘personal explanations’,” he said.
With Congress backing Gandhi over his right to explain his remarks and the BJP attacking the minister, has locked the parliament into a logjam.
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment