The BJP and the Congress on Friday indulged in accusations and counter-accusations over derailment of the Monsoon session. In a scathing attack on the Gandhi family, Minister for Communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “How many times will Sonia Gandhi try to package and repackage Rahul Gandhi? Under his leadership, Congress lost India, UP, Bihar, <g data-gr-id="26">Jharkand</g>, Bengal, Kashmir, Haryana and what not.”
Prasad, while pointing out that the Congress was unable to reconcile itself to be in Opposition, mocked at the party’s leadership saying the repackaging has not got desired results. Prasad said Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul consider that they have a divine right to be tenants of 7, Race Course Road (RCR), the official residence of Prime Minister of India. “The Congress party is below 10 in many states and if this behaviour continues then they will come down to 10 in Lok Sabha as well,” added the senior BJP leader.
Meanwhile, the Congress leader in the Lower House, Mallikarjun Kharge, said Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s move to allow discussion on adjournment motion on the penultimate day of the session came after she was pressurised by the government on the issue. At a joint press conference along with <g data-gr-id="31">leader</g> of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kharge said it was strange how the Speaker gave her consent to what she had rejected before in writing. “That showed she was under how much pressure from the government,” the Congress said.
Kharge said the Congress had from day one of the Monsoon session been calling for the issue to be taken up through an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha, but the demand was being rejected daily by the Chair. “Suddenly, under <g data-gr-id="29">pressure</g> of the government, she accepted,” claimed <g data-gr-id="27">Kharge</g>.
Targeting PM Narendra Modi, he said despite being the leader of the House, he never visited for a single day during the Monsoon session.
Azad said in the Upper House, the Congress had taken the line of “no resignation, no discussion” as it “doesn’t trust this government which will not keep any promise”.
“We may be down, but not out. Even the mighty British Empire could not scare us. What is BJP?” Azad said.