New Delhi:
Union Minister Anurag Thakur mocked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday for his “unfortunately I am an MP” and said on Friday that the truth sometimes comes out and that it is really “a pity” that he is an MP.
The BJP leader’s comment came a day after a clip of the press conference went viral where Mr Gandhi was corrected by senior party leader Jairam Ramesh for his remark: “Unfortunately I am a member of parliament”.
Speaking to ANI, Mr Thakur said: “Sometimes the truth comes out on its own, and as Rahul rightly said, unfortunately he is a member of parliament, because of the way he uses foreign soil to slander and spread lies about the same prestigious institution, the Parliament of India, of which he is unfortunately a member.”
Mr. Thakur attacked the former president of the Congress, saying, “Today ‘RAHUL’ stands for ‘Regretful Awful Hateful Ungrateful Liar’.”
The Union minister said Mr Gandhi should come and offer an unconditional apology.
“But he still puts conditions on that. Is he above the rule of the country? Is he above the rules and procedures of the House? Do the Gandhi family still feel they are above the country and parliament?” Mr. Thakur said.
The BJP leader went on to attack, saying Mr Gandhi’s turnout is below the average turnout of parliament.
“He (Rahul Gandhi) must understand that parliament is run according to the rules and procedures of the house and according to the directions of the honorable speaker. But that will only happen if he comes to the house and reads the rules and procedures of the house I think he will understand that and will come and apologize to the House and Parliament,” Mr Thakur added.
In particular, a clip of the press conference went viral on Thursday where Mr Gandhi can be heard saying, “Unfortunately I am a member of parliament.”
The comment prompted Ramesh to mumble in Rahul’s ear and ask him, “Unfortunately I am an MP, they can make a joke out of it.”
“Unfortunately for you, I am a member of parliament and since the accusation was made in parliament by four ministers, I have a right to have my say in parliament. It is my democratic right,” Mr Gandhi said, correcting himself.
BJP scrutinized the Congress leader and Union Minister Piyush Goyal shared the 25-second clip of Rahul’s press conference on his Twitter handle, posting: “Unfortunately, we have no words for words….”
Commenting on the backlash Rahul received over the viral clip of him being coached by Ramesh, the latter said it was another attempt by the BJP to divert public attention from the ‘Modani’ scam.
“The RW system is having a field day with me pointing out to @RahulGandhi that the construction of his statement would be distorted by the BJP fake news machine. He clarified right away. We speak freely to the media without teleprompters. This is again attempting to distract from the Modani scam,” Ramesh tweeted.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala tweeted: “Well Jairam it’s a pity for us that he is a member of parliament in August parliament he undermines and betrays so much. Sad that he can’t even make a statement without being coached! Wonder for who he is coached his foreign intervention statement?”
Mr Gandhi said earlier that he hoped to speak in detail in Parliament.
“So, if Indian democracy functioned, I would be able to cast my vote in parliament. So, what you are actually seeing is a test of Indian democracy. After four BJP leaders make an allegation about an MP” gets that member of parliament the same room as those four ministers or will he be told to keep his mouth shut? That’s the real question this country is facing right now,” Gandhi said.
Meanwhile, the second part of the parliament’s budget session has been subject to repeated disruptions, with both the BJP and opposition parties sticking to their positions.
The BJP has demanded an apology from Mr Gandhi for his remarks in the UK, while the opposition members have pushed for a joint parliamentary committee inquiry into the US short-seller Hindenburg Research’s report against the Adani Group.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)