New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Monday met Om Birla, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, to convey concerns he intends to raise during the ongoing session of Parliament.
The brief meeting took place after the lower House was adjourned for the day, following a standoff between the government and opposition parties over Gandhi’s demand to speak before the discussion on the Union Budget begins.
According to sources, Gandhi informed the Speaker that he wanted to address multiple issues, including the suspension of eight Congress Members of Parliament and broader concerns related to parliamentary functioning. He also flagged matters linked to allegations involving women MPs.
The current impasse follows remarks made by Birla in the House last week, where he said he had received specific inputs suggesting that some Congress MPs might attempt to move towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s seat and carry out “unexpected acts”. Based on this assessment, the Speaker had requested the Prime Minister not to be present in the House during the reply to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address.
Several senior opposition leaders accompanied Gandhi during the meeting, including Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee, DMK leader T R Baalu, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
The opposition leaders urged the Speaker to revoke the suspension of eight opposition MPs, arguing that such a move would help break the current stalemate and restore normal functioning of the House.
The Lok Sabha has witnessed repeated disruptions since February 3, after Gandhi was disallowed from quoting an article based on excerpts from the unpublished memoir of former Army chief M M Naravane, which reportedly referenced the 2020 India–China border conflict.
Originally published on 24×7-news.com.
