Blindly referring case of Rahul's citizenship shows hatred against opposition

Congress today made a veiled attack on Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, saying "blindly" referring the case of citizenship of Rahul Gandhi to the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha showed "hatred" against the party leadership and the opposition.

Party leader M Veerapa Moily also said a "dark spot" of the just concluded first part of the Budget session of Parliament was the discussion in the Lok Sabha on the Ishrat Jahan issue. "It was a black day for the Lok Sabha".

Addressing a joint press conference with Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Moily lamented that the case of Congress Vice President has been referred to the Ethics Committee "without any sense of judgement".

"Blindly referring the case of citizenship of Rahul Gandhi to the Ethics Committee, without any sense of judgement, without making any case, shows hatred against the Congress leadership, against the opposition," he remarked.

In January, Mahajan had forwarded to the Ethics Committee of Parliament a complaint by a BJP MP alleging that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had presented himself as a British citizen to float a firm there.

The Ethics Committee is chaired by BJP veteran L K Advani.

Maheish Girri, BJP MP from East Delhi, had some time back written to the Speaker requesting for "appropriate inquiry" into the allegations of his party colleague Subramanian Swamy that Rahul had declared himself as a British citizen to float a firm in that country.

Requesting the Speaker to initiate an appropriate inquiry, Girri had said it was necessary that people should know the reality.

On Isharat Jahan issue, Moily wondered how a discussion on the matter took place in Lok Sabha and alleged that there has been a "design" to "subvert" cases against some officers in the CBI court. He said three authorities including those from judiciary ones have found Ishrat was killed in a fake encounter.