Speaker rejects Rahul's charge of 'bias'

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today rejected Rahul Gandhi's charge of bias, saying she gave opportunities to speak to all members and parties but she could not help it if some people still levelled allegations against her.

When asked about senior Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi rushing into the Well of Lok Sabha to protest the alleged bias, she shot back that she was also a "senior" parliamentarian and strove hard to do her work with "integrity".

"I ask you if you will go merely by the allegation somebody levels. You (media)are also witnessing the functioning of Parliament... You are the fourth pillar (of democracy) and you can analyze records and see how many members, which parties were allowed to raise supplementary questions," she told reporters outside Parliament.

Asked about repeated allegations by the Congress against her, Mahajan said she cannot do anything.

"If somebody has to level allegation, then I cannot do anything. I am trying to do my work with integrity. You tell me what can I do about it?," she said.

She told reporters that they could find out themselves by checking records about how she had allowed members and parties chance to ask questions.

Gandhi had stormed the Well in Lok Sabha demanding a debate on communal tension, charging the Narendra Modi government with not allowing discussion in Parliament where he said only one man's voice is heard.

"We are not being allowed to speak in Parliament. We are asking for discussion. There is a mentality in the government that discussion is not acceptable. Everybody feels it, their party feels it, we feel it, everybody feels it," Gandhi had told reporters outside Parliament.