Congress submits breach of privilege notice against Piyush Goyal for defaming party

The grand old party also asked Speaker Om Birla to look into BJP MP Nishikant Dubey getting a chance to speak during Zero Hour continuously and urged that a level playing mechanism need to be evolved.

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday submitted a notice of breach of privilege against Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal for “derogatory” remarks against the party linking it to billionaire George Soros.

It also asked Speaker Om Birla to look into BJP MP Nishikant Dubey getting a chance to speak during Zero Hour continuously and urged that a level playing mechanism need to be evolved.

Dubey has been raising the issue of alleged links between Congress and Soros.

In his notice addressing Speaker Om Birla, Congress Whip Manickam Tagore sought initiation of a breach of privilege provisions against Goyal for making remarks linking Congress and Soros and accusing the party of destabilising the country.

Tagore referred to Goyal’s intervention during Zero Hour on Wednesday when Congress Deputy Leader Gaurav Gogoi was raising the issue related to the “grave and humanitarian situation” in Manipur.

“It is very surprising that the Minister who had as such no occasion to intervene was allowed to make such derogatory references on the floor of the House,” he said seeking action as Goyal’s remarks were “defamatory and undignified”.

In a separate letter, another Congress Whip Mohammed Jawed raised the issue of Dubey raising matters in Zero Hour continuously for four to five days in a row.

“The procedure for raising matters of Urgent Public Importance during Zero Hour does indeed provide Members from all sections of the House to raise topical issues at a short notice,” Jawed said.

In this context, he said, there needs to be a “level playing field” in as much as provision of opportunity to all members and ensuring that this procedural device is not confined to the “advantage of some particular member or members”.

Jawed said there is an urgent need for reviewing the process of allowing members to raise matters in Zero Hour.