Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday expunged the remarks by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman against Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Ms. Sitharaman had made references to Ms. Gandhi in the Rajya Sabha on July 28 while raising objections against the statement allegedly made against President Droupadi Murmu by Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
Ms. Sitharaman had demanded that Ms. Gandhi apologise for Mr. Chowdhury’s remarks.
The Congress had protested against Ms. Sitharaman’s remarks and lodged a complaint with Mr. Naidu. Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge had sent a letter to Mr. Naidu and urged him to expunge the remarks on Ms. Gandhi. On Monday too, Mr. Kharge said in the House that the demand made in his letter must be considered.
“As the members of the Press Gallery are aware, the Chair was pleased to direct expunction of a certain portion of the proceedings of Rajya Sabha dated 28-07-2022 at about 11:05 a.m.,” an official order from the Rajya Sabha Secretariat said. Opposition leaders had raised the matter with Mr. Naidu at a meeting in his chamber.
Mr. Kharge said that since Ms. Gandhi was a member of the Lok Sabha, no reference could be made to her in the Rajya Sabha.
Mr. Naidu had held separate meetings with Mr. Kharge and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh and also with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and Leader of the House Piyush Goyal to resolve the situation.
Mr. Kharge had written to the Rajya Sabha Chairman last week demanding that the name of Ms. Gandhi and references made to her be expunged from the records and had cited past precedents in favour of his contention. He also sought an apology from Ms. Sitharaman and Mr. Goyal for dragging Ms. Gandhi’s name into the controversy.
