Mallikarjun Kharge, Venkaiah Naidu in war of words over disruption
The National Herald case has stormed the proceedings of the Parliament
Written by Raghavendra Rao , Avishek Dastidar
New DelhiUpdated: Dec 10, 2015, 1:46
New DelhiUpdated: Dec 10, 2015, 1:46
Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge speaks during ongoing Winter Session of the parliament in New Delhi on Monday. (PTI Photo/ TV grab)
During zero hour, Saugata Roy (TMC) said, “I support the contention of Congress that the government is behaving in a vindictive way,” he said. The Speaker disallowed him from speaking; TMC members walked out.
Leader of the Congress Mallikarjun Kharge led the charge after question hour: “There are two laws in this country — one for the Opposition and the other for the government,” he said. “Your chief ministers indulge in scams, but there’s no case against them… If you want to muzzle our voices by suppressing us… you cannot scare us like that.”
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu launched a counterattack. “The entire country is asking why the Congress is coming into the well. They have no reason to explain… they have no answer. They are already exposed. They are frustrated. They are not ready to respect the mandate of the people.”
A promise & a bill
When other MPs discussed the drought situation, Congress MPs led by Jyotiraditya Scindia — who had initiated the discussion earlier this week — kept agitating.
“The chair gave a ruling allowing Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia to make his opening remarks on the drought situation… The promise was that after the discussion… we will complete the legislative business,” Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, told the chair.
The government wanted to pass the Indian Trusts (Amendment) Bill, 2015 — it eventuually did — but the Congress said bills should not be brought when the House was not in order. “Why is the House not in order? Who is bulldozing?” Naidu shot back. “It is like a murderer saying others are doing it.”
