'Rahul indulging in spit & run politics'

The first week of the Monsoon Session may have been washed out completely, but it also set the stage for a fresh round of confrontation between the BJP and the Congress, with the former threatening to lodge a “defamation” case against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for terming External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s actions in lalitgate a “criminal act.” 

At the same time, there seemed little hope of Parliament transacting any business next week also as Rahul again sought the resignation of Sushma along with Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for their alleged role in lalitgate. He also called for the resignation of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the Vyapam scam.  

The BJP accused Rahul of practicing politics of “spit and run” and “crossing all limits of decency” in attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Swaraj. “Rahul’s comments against the Prime Minister and Swaraj are immature and irresponsible,” BJP leader and Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said.

“It’s irresponsible and immature of the leader of a national party to speak of the Prime Minister in such a language. He has crossed all limits of decency in public life. His new strategy is ‘spit and run’. It won’t work. People are more mature than this,” he said.

The BJP is particularly unhappy with Rahul over his recent jibe at Modi over the contentious land Bill, saying people will reduce his 56 inch chest to 5.6 inches. Taking a dig at the Congress leader, Javadekar said the script-writer hired after Rahul’s 56-day sabbatical had “failed” him. Javadekar also agreed with his ministerial colleague Nitin Gadkari’s comments earlier that a criminal defamation case may be filed against Gandhi for calling Sushma’s alleged help to lalit Modi a “criminal act”. Gadkari has sought an apology from Rahul for his comments and threatened to file a defamation case against him if the latter refuses to do so. 

“Rahul Gandhi using these words is very unfortunate and undemocratic. And because of these words, I am demanding that Rahul Gandhi should make an apology to the country because it is not only defaming Sushma Swaraj, but defaming the Foreign Minister of the country, who is the representative of India in the world,” Gadkari said.

Speaking on the lalit Modi controversy, Rahul had commented, “What we have said is that (there will be) no discussion without resignation. Sushma has done a criminal act.” Earlier, both the Houses of Parliament failed to transact any business for the fourth consecutive day on Friday due to the din raised by the Congress-led Opposition renewing the demand for resignation of Swaraj, Raje and Chouhan. The BJP members also staged a dharna near Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in Parliament complex demanding action against Congress Chief Ministers allegedly embroiled in corruption cases.

While the lok Sabha was adjourned for the day minutes after it met, the Rajya Sabha witnessed two disruptions before the Chair adjourned the proceedings till Monday, shortly after lunch at 2.30 pm.Raising the issue in the Upper House soon after proceedings began, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari asked the Government to spell out its stand on Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje helping lalit Modi and whether Swaraj and Raje will be made to resign.  This led to an uproar with the Treasury and the Opposition trading charges leading to pandemonium.  Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav took a dig at the Government and said it was perhaps for the time in the world that the ruling party was staging a dharna and quipped “were the BJP members appealing to God.”

Amidst the ruckus, leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad charged that the ruling party was “disturbing” the House and the BJP strongly protested against these remarks.   He also said “it is the ruling party which has become a stumbling block in the functioning of the House.”  

Reacting to Azad, members from the Treasury Benches led by Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Piyush Goyal blamed the Opposition for the stalemate, provoking the Congress members who immediately moved into the aisles raising slogans. The House then witnessed verbal duel between the BJP and Congress members forcing Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien to adjourn the proceedings for about 50 minutes at 11.10 am. 

The situation remained the same when the House met again at 12.00 pm for Question Hour with the Congress members coming into the aisles to register their protest and the BJP MPs also raising slogans.In the lok Sabha, the Opposition’s slogan-shouting and counter-sloganeering by the BJP members led to the House being adjourned for the day, minutes after it had assembled at 11 am.