The Rajya Sabha was adjourned until Monday amid ruckus over the Opposition’s no-trust motion to remove the House Chairman, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar. Amid the uproar from the Treasury and the Opposition benches, a war of words erupted between the Leader of Opposition and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Dhankhar.
Commenting on the no-trust motion, Dhankhar said bringing it was a Constitutional right of the Opposition but they were deviating from procedures. The motion, he added, will be brought up as per procedure — after 14 days of written notice.
However, while taking note of the Opposition raising the issue in the media, he said: “I am a farmer’s son; I will not show weakness. I will sacrifice my life for my country. You (Opposition) have only one job 24 hours a day, why is a farmer’s son sitting here…look what you are saying. I have tolerated a lot…you have the right to bring a motion, but you are insulting the Constitution.”
Replying, Kharge said, “If you are a farmer’s son, I am also the son of a labour(er)”. “We are not here to listen to your praise… you are letting everyone from that side (Treasury) speak, you are letting them insult our party… You have a responsibility to run the House but you are purposely encouraging them,” said Kharge
Dhankhar responded: “The whole world knows whose praises you like. It is important that the House function.” The House was adjourned in less than an hour.
Earlier, during the proceedings, several BJP members — Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, Surendra Singh Nagar, Neeraj Shekhar, and Kiran Choudhary — raised points of order on the issue. The ruling MPs accused the Opposition of insulting Dhankhar, saying the Congress and its allies could not tolerate that “a farmer’s son, a person from an OBC family” was holding a Constitutional position.
Agarwal, a BJP member from UP, said, “You should have debated the allegation (against Dhankhar) in the House, instead you are doing it on newspaper pages and social media,” he said. Nagar and Choudhary said that the motion was against farmers.
Targeting the BJP and its allies, Opposition DMK member Tiruchi Siva, quoting rules, said no member should make any allegations against another member without prior intimation to the Chair and the concerned minister.
“In the past two days, allegations have been made against members such as Sonia Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition, and other members of the other House (Lok Sabha,” he said.
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