BJP tries to turn tables, says Vaidik a Rahul Gandhi fan in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: BJP today tried to turn the tables on Congress on the issue of Ved Pratap Vaidik’s meeting with Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed by citing a media report that the journalist was a fan of Rahul Gandhi, leading to a ruckus in the Rajya Sabha. BJP’s Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi waved a newspaper that quoted Vaidik to be a fan of the Gandhi scion as he believed “Rahul Jaisa koi Nahi”. [caption id=“attachment_1620089” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] This infuriated the Congress members and led by former Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, they objected to the very mention of the name of Rahul, who is a member of the other House. BJP countered the objection arguing that the Opposition had brought the issue of Vaidik’s meeting quoting a newspaper only and there should not be any problem if the journalist’s comment on Rahul was raised the same way. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien tried to pacify both the camps saying, “Point is if you wanted to quote from a paper, you should have taken prior permission. If there is no question and nobody is disputing then Chair has no problem, any member can bring a paper and quote anything.” He added it was not a practice in the House to make any “derogatory” comment on a member of the other House. BJP said the comment on Rahul was not a “derogatory” one and hence, there should be no objection from the Opposition. Sharma kept on shouting saying that the statement was offending. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, however, objected saying, “We don’t subscribe your views. There is nothing derogatory and nothing negative… There is no comparison with terrorists… What he (Naqvi) is quoting is an article, referred to a particular newspaper… If it is wrong, then take him to task.” The matter ended after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj rose to give a statement on the Vaidik-Hafiz meeting. PTI