Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned on Friday till March 9, when the second part of the Budget Session is due to begin.
While the first part of Parliament’s Budget Session was full of fireworks, the second leg is expected to witness a showdown between the Opposition and the Government over two key issues: the notice of no-confidence motion submitted by the Congress-led Opposition against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and the Substantive Motion moved against Rahul Gandhi by BJP’s Nishikant Dubey.
BJP MP Dubey has written to the Lok Sabha Speaker, asking for a Parliamentary Inquiry Committee investigation into Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s “unethical conduct” in Parliament in relation to his recent speech.
Serious allegations against Rahul Gandhi
In his letter to Birla, Dubey said it was his constitutional obligation to highlight Rahul Gandhi’s misdemeanour as he had become a key member of the “Thuggery gang” whose aim is to “de-stabilise the country from within”.
The BJP MP accused Gandhi of being an active member of the “Ford Foundation”, calling it a very notorious organisation and alleging that it funds all of Gandhi’s lavish foreign travels.
Earlier in the day, Dubey had even raised a question whether the Congress MP was “planning India’s partition for the sake of gaining power”.
‘PM has sold India, we see fear in his eyes’: Rahul Gandhi slams Modi in Parliament on US trade deal
Posting on X, Dubey called Rahul Gandhi the “ringleader of the tukde-tukde gang”.
Dubey’s move came after Rahul Gandhi’s quoted “excerpts” from an unpublished book of former Army Chief Gen (Retd) MM Naravane in the Lok Sabha. Gandhi was stopped from quoting the excerpts that talked about the 2020 India-China standoff.
Rahul Gandhi, in his speech on the Budget debate, had strongly criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging he had sold the country in agreeing to a trade deal with the US.
Govt decides against Privilege Motion
Dubey moved the motion even as Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju stated today that the government had taken a decision not to go ahead with the proposed Privilege Motion against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.
The government had earlier planned to move the motion over Rahul’s move to quote from Gen Naravane’s unpublished book and over his remarks against the PM made during his Budget debate speech.
Rijiju told the media that the Centre decided against moving the motion after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey moved a Substantive Motion in the House against the Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition.
According to the minister, the government will consult the Lok Sabha Speaker once the Substantive Motion is admitted, to take a call on whether to refer the motion to the Privilege Committee, the Ethics Committee, or take it up directly in the House for a discussion.
“The government had decided to move a motion. Rahul Gandhi violated rules and mentioned an unpublished book in an illegal manner; he also mentioned several things in his Budget speech – ‘country sold out’ and other nonsense for the PM. There are several issues over which we wanted to give him a notice. Private Member Nishikant Dubey has brought a Substantive Motion, so for now, we are dropping the motion that the government was going to bring.
“Any MP can bring a motion. After the Substantive Motion is admitted, we will decide after discussing with the Speaker whether we can send this to the Privilege Committee or Ethics Committee or bring this directly to the House to discuss. It will be decided,” he added.
Rahul Gandhi has, meanwhile, stated that he would not “step back even an inch” even if a Privilege Motion is moved against him in Parliament.