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Remarks against Rahul trigger row in House

BHUBANESWAR: The controversy over Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s visit to a tribal village during his recent visit to Orissa dominated the proceedings of the State Assembly for the second day on Wednesday.

The proceedings were adjourned thrice with members of Opposition Congress protesting against the ‘objectionable remarks’ made by some legislators of the ruling Biju Janata Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition against Mr. Gandhi in the Assembly on Tuesday.

Terming the remarks made by the ruling alliance members unfortunate, Leader of Opposition J.B. Patnaik said that the ruling alliance should apologise for making objectionable remarks against Mr. Gandhi.

Mr. Patnaik also urged the Speaker to expunge remarks made against Mr. Gandhi from the Assembly proceedings.

Congress legislators rushed to the well and disrupted the proceedings by condemning the remarks of the ruling alliance members. They also raised slogans in support of Mr. Gandhi.

Even after the Speaker responded to the Opposition demand saying that objectionable remarks against Mr. Gandhi would be expunged from the proceedings, the Congress members stalled the proceedings demanding an apology from the government side.

As the ruling alliance did not apologise for the remarks made by their members, the Speaker expressed regret over the remarks that were made against Mr. Gandhi and appealed to the Opposition to cooperate with him to run the House.

After three adjournments, the Opposition accepted the Speaker’s request the other proceedings were conducted in smooth way thereafter.

A BJD legislator had raised the issue pertaining to Mr. Gandhi’s visit in the form of a special mention on Tuesday saying that the Congress leader had visited a tribal hamlet in Koraput without his security personnel informing the local administration. Some ruling alliance legislators who participated in the discussion over the issue had made certain objectionable remarks against Mr. Gandhi.

Making a statement on the issue in the House in the afternoon, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik termed the ‘unscheduled visit’ of Mr. Gandhi as ‘unfortunate’ and sought action against those responsible for breach of security.

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