‘What happened in 5 minutes?’ BJP mocks Rahul Gandhi’s last-minute withdrawal as lead speaker in Parliament

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday created an uproar in the Lok Sabha ahead of the debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lower House of Parliament as Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi was called to open the debate instead of just-reinstated MP Rahul Gandhi.

As Gogoi stood up to speak in the Lok Sabha, BJP MPs created an uproar and asked if Rahul Gandhi had developed cold feet. “Where is Rahul Gandhi? Has he developed cold feet?” several MPs from the Treasury benches were heard saying ahead of the discussion in the Lok Sabha.

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“As far as I know, the Lok Sabha Secretary General’s office received a letter that Rahul Gandhi will be speaking instead of Gaurav Gogoi. What happened? Sir, we are enthusiastic to listen to Mr Rahul Gandhi. At 11.55 AM, the letter was received stating that Rahul will speak instead of Mr Gogoi. And at 12 noon, the speaker has changed. I urge that we members get an understanding of what changed in 5 minutes?” Parliamentary Affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said, addressing the Speaker.

Rahul Gandhi and party MP Sonia Gandhi were present inside the House at the time Gogoi began speaking. Responding to the remarks by the minister, Gogoi said that the conversations between the office of the Speaker and the members have never been revealed. “Should we reveal what Prime Minister Modi has discussed with you (Lok Sabha Speaker) in your office? We don’t say these things,” Gogoi said.

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This led to a sharp reaction from the Treasury benches with Union Home minister Amit Shah rising up to interrupt Gogoi and demanding that the MP reveal what he has claimed. “He must tell the House. This is a serious allegation,” a visibly upset Shah said in the House. He was soon joined by Joshi who said that Gogoi cannot make baseless remarks naming the Prime Minister and the Chair without revealing full details.

Gogoi leads Opposition’s charge against PM Modi

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday began a discussion on the no-confidence motion moved by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi. Opening the debate for the Congress, Gogoi led a no-holds-barred attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his silence on the Manipur issue.

“The Prime Minister must admit that his double-engine sarkar has failed its people in Manipur. The NSA and the PM has failed on the issue of national security in Manipur,” he said.

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“PM took a ‘maun vrat’ to not speak in the Parliament. So, we had to bring the No Confidence Motion to break his silence. We have three questions for him – 1) Why did he not visit Manipur to date? 2) Why did it take almost 80 days to finally speak on Manipur and when he did speak it was just for 30 seconds? 3) Why has the CM not sacked the Manipur CM so far?” Gogoi added.

The no-trust vote is bound to be defeated in the Lok Sabha as the BJP has the requisite numbers due to its overwhelming majority in the House. The BJP alone has over 300 members in Lok Sabha where the majortity mark is 272.

However, the Opposition is aiming to use the opportunity to corner the government on the Manipur issue and get the Prime Minister to address the issue of Manipur.