I.N.D.I.A. bloc boycotts tea party hosted by LS Speaker; PM Modi takes swipe at Congress leadership's 'insecurity'

New Delhi: In his customary tea meeting with leaders of all parties at Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s office, which was unceremoniously skipped by key opposition leaders including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was pleased with the fruitful session and took a dig at the Congress leadership calling them “insecure”.

In the meeting which saw only leaders of NDA parties, the Prime Minister said that this session was good because important bills were passed. “He particularly praised the government and said that the passing of the Online Gaming Bill will have a far-reaching impact and will especially affect the public. He said this is an issue that should be discussed more,” a leader attending the meeting said.

The Prime Minister also said that the opposition could have participated in the discussion on major bills, but they were only engaged in creating disruptions. “PM Modi also said that many young leaders in the opposition, especially in the Congress, are very talented, but due to the insecurity of the family, these leaders do not get a chance to speak,” the leader quoted above said. “He said that it is possible that these young leaders are making Rahul Gandhi insecure and nervous.”

Present at the meeting were Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Union Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, MoS parliamentary affairs L Murugan and Arjun Ram Meghwal from the BJP. JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel, LJP’s Chirag Paswan, TDP’s Rammohan Naidu and Lavu Krishna Devarayalu, among others.

The standoff between the government and opposition members came to a heated point when several TMC MPs tore copies of the 'criminal netas' bill when Amit Shah was introducing the three bills in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. As the scuffle ended, TMC MPs accused senior BJP ministers of manhandling them. But an inquiry by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, which involved looking at the CCTV camera footage, has apparently shown that that did not happen.

Despite speculation that action will be taken on the MPs involved, sources said that the home minister insisted that no action be taken on anyone.