Congress presses for privilege motion against PM Modi, Sitharaman on Rafale

Mallikarjun Kharge

Congress on Wednesday pressed for its privilege motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for allegedly misleading the House on the Rafale fighter jets deal with France.

Raking up the issue during Zero Hour, Leader of Congress in Lok sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said he was moving the motion of privilege against Modi and Sitharaman for some statements made by them during the no-confidence motion debate on Friday.

His party colleague Jyotiraditya Scindia also got up to say that he has also moved a privilege motion against the Defence Minister.

Similarly, BJP member Anurag Thakur mentioned his privilege motion against Congress President Rahul Gandhi for trying to "mislead" the House by levelling baseless allegations during the debate on the no-confidence motion. He demanded action against Gandhi.

The Speaker told the members that their notices of breach of privilege were under her consideration.

The Congress had on Tuesday submitted a notice of privilege motion against Modi and Sitharaman.

Earlier, the Lok Sabha was adjourned briefly on Wednesday after a furore over remarks made by a BJP MP about four women being beaten up in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal and later stripped. He also alleged Dalit atrocities have taken place in West Bengal.

The House resumed work at 12.30 p.m. after being adjourned for some 15 to 20 minutes.

Kirit Somaiya, who represents Mumbai's North-East, said despite having a woman Chief Minister (Mamata Bannerjee), such incidents were happening in West Bengal.

Pointing towards Trinamool Congress members, Somaiya said: "You should be ashamed of this." This offended the Trinamool Congress members who protested.

Congress member K.C. Venugopal moved an adjournment notice over the NEET data leak.

"This type of leaking results in people losing trust and credibility of the examination is also lost.

"This is a very serious issue, government should come forward and put up an enquiry on this. Such things should not be repeated. This is our concern," said Venugopal.

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