Congress, Trinamool demand apology from BJP, walk out of Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Congress and Trinamool Congress members walked out of the Lok Sabha on Friday demanding the suspension of or an apology from BJP’s Virendra Singh for his remarks against a Congress leader. Raising the issue after Question Hour, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the BJP member had made “extremely objectionable and derogatory remarks” about the Nehru-Gandhi family. He said such remarks were an “insult to parliamentary system and our former prime ministers”. [caption id=“attachment_2516722” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Kharge said there had been no apology from the member and no attempt was made to suspend him. He said the member was standing by his comments. “This attitude is not right. The government is supporting him,” Kharge said and demanded that the member should render “unconditional apology” or should be suspended. As Trinamool’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay said the House would run smoothly if the Bharatiya Janata Party member apologised, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asked if he could guarantee this. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the remarks of the member had been expunged and “it was wrong to obstruct the House”. The Congress members protested by raising slogans near the speaker’s podium. They returned to their seats when Kharge spoke and later trooped out of the house — for the second straight day. Participating in a debate, Virendra Singh on Wednesday made certain remarks against former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi apart from Rahul Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia. Sticking to his guns, Virendra Singh refused to apologise. “Truth is always bitter. They (Congress) were disturbing Parliament even earlier also. This is just an excuse,” Singh said outside Parliament. Asked whether he would apologise for his remarks, he said, “Question does not arise. I have not said anything for which I should withdraw. A farmer always says something after thinking it over…” When it was pointed out to him that crores of rupees were going waste for not allowing Parliament to function, he said people of the country should know who is not allowing Parliament to function and they will decide. With inputs from IANS and PTI