Congress to boycott PM in House over 'raincoat' jibe

With curtains coming down on the first phase of the Budget Session on Thursday, face-off between the government and Opposition on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'raincoat' remark about his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh spilled into a political slug fest. However, the shortened session that started on January 31 was the most productive in terms of transaction of business. The productivity of Lok Sabha in this phase was 113 per cent, while for Rajya Sabha it was 97 per cent.

But the session witnessed uproarious scenes and got derailed since Wednesday, with the Congress announcing to coordinate with the Opposition parties to boycott Prime Minister Modi.

"This story of abuses and insults which the Prime Minister has scripted will be concluded with the final chapter written by us," said former Union Minister Anand Sharma, the deputy leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha. The agitated Congress members stormed into the wells of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to protest the 'insults and abuses' hurled at their leader Indira Gandhi and a derogatory 'raincoat' jibes at his predecessor.

Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge had met the Prime Minister to convince him to take back his remarks. Speaking to reporters, Kharge said the PM told him that he made these remark because even he was blatantly targeted by the Opposition.

Defending Prime Minister Narendra Modi's jibe against his predecessor Manmohan Singh, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said, "The Prime Minister did not insult Manmohan Singh, he gave a compliment to him by saying that even after such a long public life he has had no taint." He reminded how Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi had treated Dr Singh by virtually tearing the ordinance his cabinet had passed.

"What maryada (respect) are they (Congress) talking about? Their members have in the past abused the Prime Minister. Salman Khurshid once called the Prime Minister impotent," Naidu said.

Congress leader Anand Sharma, on the other hand, defended the decision to walk out of Rajya Sabha after the PM's remarks. He said the party could not have kept sitting in the House with all those insults. He rejected the assertion of BJP President Amit Shah and senior union minister M Venkaiah Naidu that the PM had paid back the Congress with the same coin which Congress leaders keep using. Sharma regretted that Modi did not seem to correct the course by withdrawing the words about Indira Gandhi. He said though there are many books available on Modi, his party never quoted from them, respecting the parliamentary traditions.

In the Lok Sabha, Congress group leader Kharge sought to raise the issue of PM's comments published in the newspapers, but Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was firm that she won't allow the members to raise any matter discussed in the other House, provoking the party members to raise slogans for ten minutes demanding the PM's apology.

In the Rajya Sabha, the agitated Congress members were joined by CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechuri who wanted to condemn the PM for what he described as 'abuses' hurled at his party's ex-MP (Jyotirmay Basu) and general secretary (Harkishen Surjit), both of whom are dead. Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav also said that the PM agreed to let him speak instead of intervening in his speech but Chairman Hamid Ansari did not permit him after Modi had finished his speech.

Deputy Chairman Prof PJ Kurien, however, did not allow anyone to raise the matter, asserting that it was a closed chapter since the Chairman had disposed of it. He said he cannot allow the discussion to reopen as it was closed on Wednesday.

The order was, however, restored in the Rajya Sabha in the post-lunch session as the House held a general discussion on the Union Budget for three hours before it was adjourned to meet again after a month on March 9.

The intervening period is for the standing committees of Parliament scrutinise the department-wise detailed budget demands.