Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey on Monday, February 13, 2023, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi must apologise in Parliament or else he will lose his seat in Lok Sabha for allegedly making unparliamentary remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha.
On Sunday, the Lok Sabha Secretariat asked Mr. Gandhi to submit his reply after two BJP members ¬ Mr. Dubey and Prahlad Joshi ¬ filed a breach of privilege notice against him for his remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was asked to respond by Wednesday.
Speaking to ANI, Mr. Dubey said, "Without giving any notice to the Speaker, you can't raise such allegations against our PM. In the notice, we have asked Rahul Gandhi to furnish proof to the Speaker by February 15 to support his claims (against PM Modi) or he must apologise in Parliament, failing which he will lose his seat in the Lok Sabha.
"On February 8, Dubey sent a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, saying that the statements are misleading, derogatory, indecent, unparliamentary, undignified and incriminatory in nature to the dignity of the House and the Prime Minister.
"Rahul Gandhi, despite making a statement in the House that he would provide documentary evidence has not submitted any duly authenticated document for supporting his statements," he added in the letter. Mr. Dubey said the Congress MP's statement amounts to misleading the House in the absence of any documentary evidence and also casts aspersions of the image of Prime Minister Modi.
"This conduct is in clear violation of privileges of House and its members besides being a clear case of contempt of the House. I request you to take immediate action against Rahul Gandhi for breach of privilege and contempt of House," Mr. Dubey's letter read.
On Tuesday, Mr. Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the government in the wake of the Hindenburg-Adani row linking the rise of the Adani group to his alleged closeness to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He further alleged that "rules were changed" in some sectors to favour the billionaire industrialist.
Published - February 13, 2023 01:02 pm IST
