Outraged over attack by BJP MPs and Ministers on Sonia Gandhi in Parliament on Thursday, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday wrote to Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, requesting him to expunge the remarks made by Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal against the Congress president in the House.
The party has already complained against Union Minister Smriti Irani to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla with a demand that the matter be referred to the Privileges Committee for action against her. But unfazed by the Congress’ posturing, Union Ministers Prahlad Joshi and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said Chowdhury and Sonia would have to apologise as the “Rashtrapatni” remark was objectionable and hurt people’s sentiments. BJP MP Nishikant Dwivedi said the Lok Sabha will only function after Sonia apologises.
Kharge also demanded that the Ministers should tender their apology for violating the conventions of the House. His letter came a day after Sitharaman and Goyal attacked Chowdhury for his “Rashtrapatni” remark while referring to President Droupadi Murmu. Both the Ministers also hit out at Congress chief Sonia and demanded an apology from her.
In his letter, Kharge said as per Parliamentary practices and conventions critical remarks should not be made on the other House or members of the other House. He also cited a ruling made by former RS Chairman R Venkataraman on April 15, 1987, wherein he observed that “no person who is not a member of this House can be referred to in the House in a derogatory manner or in any other way affecting his reputation”.
The senior Congress leader said even the question of privilege cannot be raised directly in one House against members of the other House. In this regard, he said, a procedure has been laid down based on a report of Joint Sitting of Committees of Privileges of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha which was presented to both Houses on August 23, 1954 and later adopted by the Houses in December, 1954.
“In view of my aforementioned submissions, I request you to kindly expunge the remarks made by Sitharaman and Goyal vis-a-vis Sonia in the House yesterday, 28 July, 2022. I also request that they tender their apology for their violation of sacrosanct conventions of the House,” Kharge said in his letter.
Congress MPs also staged a protest in front of the Gandhi statue in Parliament complex demanding an apology from the government for Irani’s confrontation with the Congress president on Thursday. They were joined by their colleagues from the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).
Some Opposition leaders, including SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav and Jaya Bachchan also came out in support of Sonia over the behaviour meted out to her. Other Opposition MPs -- NCP’s Supriya Sule, TMC’s Mahua Moitra and Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi -- have already extended their support to Sonia.
Congress MPs met in the Parliament and decided on their strategy at a meeting of Congress Parliamentary Party chaired by Sonia, after which they caused disruption in both houses of Parliament with slogans against Irani and demanding her sacking as a Minister.