The ruckus over Prime Minister Narendra Modi allegedly naming Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the AgustaWestland scam during election rallies in Kerala and Tamil Nadu consumed the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha on Monday and threatened to derail the passage of several key legislations in the four remaining days of the Budget Session.
Taking exception to the Prime Minister’s charge during election rallies last week that an Italian court had named Sonia Gandhi in connection with the AgustaWestland helicopter scandal, the Congress stalled proceedings in the Upper House. The party also plans to move the appropriate motion against the Prime Minister (PM) over his alleged charge that an Italian court named Sonia Gandhi in the AgustaWestland case.
Rajya Sabha member Shantaram Naik (Congress) gave notice of breach of privilege against Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to Chairman Hamid Ansari under Rule 187 and 188. He said the PM has made a “wild charge” against UPA leaders alleging that they had taken money in the purchase of helicopters. Naik also claimed Parrikar misled the House by reading out a long prepared statement making wild charges to be used by the PM during his election rally.
The agitated Congress MPs demanded a statement and an apology from Modi and did not allow the Rajya Sabha to function. The issue was also raised vociferously in the lok Sabha.
The Upper House saw repeated adjournments in the pre and post-lunch sessions with Congress members rushing into the Well of the House raising slogans. Raising the issue soon after the House met for the day, leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad accused the PM of trying to gain political mileage and tarnishing the image of the top Congress leadership during elections by referring to the reported observations of the Italian court.
The Congress leader said Modi made the accusation in an election rally days after the AgustaWestland controversy was discussed in both the Houses last week. He said if Modi wanted to say something on the issue, he should have spoken during the debate and not outside Parliament when it is in session.
Azad also said Parrikar in his speech never mentioned the UPA and Congress leadership’s involvement in the wrongdoing in the helicopter deal. His party colleague Anand Sharma said Modi had contradicted his own Defence Minister and was pre-empting the CBI probe as the investigating agency was under the PM’s charge.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi refuted Azad’s allegation and said Modi did not make any policy announcement.
During the pandemonium, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (TMC) urged the Chair to invoke Rule 255 to expel agitating Congress members for disturbing the proceedings. He said there was a precedent when nearly 10 MPs were expelled from the Rajya Sabha in 2010 when it was discussing the Women’s Reservation Bill. The Chair had invoked Rule 256 wherein MPs were expelled after a motion was moved.
The Rajya Sabha also witnessed a slanging match between Jairam Ramesh of the Congress and Subramanian Swamy when the former demanded an apology from the BJP leader for alleged wrong presentation of facts. He said Swamy claimed in a Twitter message last week that the papers he had laid on the table of the House regarding the AgustaWestland case were approved by the Rajya Sabha. Kurien said the responsibility of authenticating with the documents rests with the member and the Chair has nothing to do with it. Swamy said Ramesh was trying to drag the Chairman into the controversy.
In the lok Sabha, leader of Congress Mallikarjun Kharge also raised similar objections and said it was a serious issue and the party might be forced to move Privilege Motion against the Prime Minister.
Defending Modi, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Venkaiah Naidu said outside Parliament the PM has done nothing wrong, adding the Congress should wait for the enquiry to finish.
“The Prime Minister has done nothing wrong. He has addressed a public function and there he said what was already in the public domain, what was there in the court observation also,” Naidu asserted.