NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday submitted a reply to the breach of privilege notice moved by BJP MPs in the Lok Sabha.
On February 7, during his speech following the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address in the Lower House of the Parliament, Rahul attacked PM Modi and raised questions on his links with the Adani Group. The Centre has been in the eye of a storm over a US-based short-seller report on the conglomerate.
It has been learnt that Rahul submitted a detailed reply to the Lok Sabha secretariat on privilege motion moved by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi. In his letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Dubey demanded action against Rahul Gandhi alleging that he made ‘unverified, incriminatory and defamatory’ statements against PM Modi. Supporting Dubey, Joshi also demanded breach of privilege against the Congress leader and his comments be expunged from records. Dubey also said that Rahul hasn’t submitted any authenticated document supporting his claims in the Lower House.
In his letter, Dubey wrote, “These statements are misleading, derogatory, indecent, unparliamentary, undignified and incriminatory in nature to the dignity of the House and the Prime Minister being a Member of the Lok Sabha. Rahul Gandhi, despite making a statement in the House that he would provide documentary evidence, has not submitted any duly authenticated document for supporting his statements,” he said.
Birla has expunged 18 remarks from the speech made by Gandhi, which evoked strong protests from Congress leaders. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has written to Birla last week to restore the speech by the Congress MP.