Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha staged a walkout on Wednesday, July 3, when the Chairperson Jagdish Dhankar did not allow the Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge to speak during Prime Minister’s Narendra Modi’s speech.
Modi was replying to a discussion on the motion thanking the President for her address to the joint sitting of the Parliament.
The catalyst was when Modi, in a jibe at senior Congress member Sonia Gandhi, said, “These people are such who are used to running the government on autopilot and remote pilot. They don’t believe in working, they just know how to wait.”
Kharge wanted to intervene during Modi’s reply but Chairperson Dhankhar did not heed his requests, leading to INDIA block MPs, raising slogans and asking for the LoP to be allowed to speak. Modi continued his speech amid the slogan-shouting.
This went on for some time with Kharge repeatedly pleading to be allowed to speak.
Dhankhar condemned their act of walkout, saying this was an insult to the Constitution.
Modi too decried the walkout and said he was not trying to score points but was duty-bound to give an account of his government’s performance.
(With inputs from PTI)
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