NEW DELHI: Congress chief and leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge prevailed upon the treasury benches in the Rajya Sabha on Friday with his satirical speech on the ruling BJP’s claim to win over 400 seats in the upcoming parliamentary polls.
It all started when Union minister Piyush Goyal demanded an apology from the Congress for a controversial statement by party MP DK Suresh. Kharge stood up to comment the BJP claims to cross 400 seats.
Kharge’s remark that ‘aap (BJP) to iss bar bolta abki baar 400 paar’(BJP says it will cross 400 seats in LS polls) evoked laughter among members of treasury benches, including PM Modi and leader of the House Piyush Goyal, who were participating in the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address.
Kharge attacked the Modi government on women’s security, reservation and the delay by Jharkhand governor in administrating oath to Champai Soren. “You have a majority with 330-34, but you still claim to go over 400 seats,” Kharge said. This prompted Goyal to quip, “Whatever Kharge ji said is true.”
Later, the BJP in its X handle tagged a video clip of Kharge on “400 paar” jibe. The Rajya Sabha witnessed heated exchanges over Congress MP DK Suresh statement for a separate south nation over the alleged fiscal injustice. Kharge, distancing the party from his colleague, said he and his party (Congress) stand for a united nation and will not tolerate any such call. Kharge also lashed out at Assam CM, albeit indirectly on Himanta Biswas Sarma’s post on X. He said CMs like him should be removed for speaking such a language.
Meanwhile, Goyal lashed out at Suresh’s statement. Suresh is the brother of Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar. “The Congress has in the past divided the nation. The latest statement is an example of the same thinking”.
‘Not Cong stance’
Rajya Sabha witnessed heated debates over Congress MP DK Suresh’s statement for a separate south nation over the alleged fiscal injustice. Kharge, distancing from the statement, said he and his party stand for a united nation and will not tolerate any such call. He also lashed out at Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma for his post on X.