First phase of Budget session concludes as BJP moves Substantive Motion against Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: The first phase of the Budget session came to an end on Friday, with the BJP stating that it will pursue action against LoP Rahul Gandhi. The eventful session saw Gandhi and the Congress clash with the government over several issues, including the memoir of former Indian Army Chief M M Naravane as well as the India-US trade deal and the Epstein Files.

Gandhi was not allowed to speak during the reply to the Motion of Thanks debate following the President’s address. Going against tradition, the Prime Minister skipped speaking during the Motion of Thanks address. Speaker Om Birla later said that it was on his advice, since he was worried that some women MPs of the Congress, who had come to the PM’s seat to protest, were about to hurt him. The Congress responded by filing a no-confidence motion against Birla. Birla has decided to step away from his duties during this period.

The session also saw the suspension of eight MPs for jumping up the chair of the Secretary General and throwing bits of papers.

On Friday, Rijiju said that the BJP will pursue action against Gandhi through Nishikant Dubey’s substantive motion. Kiren Rijiju said that Gandhi has said several objectionable things against the government.

“We had decided to file a privilege motion against Gandhi for ‘illegally’ quoting from an unpublished book, as well as many things he spoke about in his Budget speech. He said ‘desh bech diya’ (sold the country) and said things about the Prime Minister. But our member Nishikant Dubey has filed a substantive motion, so I said that we will drop the privilege motion. We will speak to the Speaker to see if we can send it to the ethics committee, privilege committee or discuss it in the House; it is undecided,” Rijiju said.