Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is believed to have submitted his reply to a breach of privilege notice over his remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rahul has given a detailed reply running into several pages citing various laws and precedence, justifying his remarks made in the Lower House, Congress sources said.
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On Monday, addressing a gathering in Wayanad, his Lok Sabha constituency, Rahul criticised the decision to expunge several remarks from his speech made during the discussion in the House.
Rahul allegedly made ‘unparliamentary’ remarks against the PM during his address in the Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address to the joint session of Parliament.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat had directed Rahul to reply to the breach of privilege notice moved by Union minister Joshi and BJP MP Dubey over his “misleading, derogatory, unparliamentary and incriminatory statements” against PM Modi in the Lower House. Rahul was asked to submit his reply by 15 February for consideration by the Lok Sabha Speaker.
The communication by the Privileges and Ethics Branch of the Lok Sabha Secretariat was sent to the former Congress president on 10 February. “I am to request you kindly to furnish your reply/comments in the matter by February 15, 2023,” said the letter written by a Lok Sabha official.
In his speech in the Lok Sabha on 7 February, Rahul made several allegations against the government over the Hindenburg-Adani row.
In his letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker, Dubey said the Congress MP made certain “unverified, incriminatory and defamatory statements” in contravention of the rules. He said Rahul made these allegations against the PM “without giving advance notice to the Speaker and the Prime Minister as required under Rule 353”.
Joshi, who sent a similar letter to the speaker, said Rahul’s remarks were liable to be expunged as they were “derogatory, indecent, unparliamentary and undignified”.