'Noted your concerns; extend my greetings on eve of Ugadi': Sonia Gandhi's brief reply to Deve Gowda

Ugādi is traditionally celebrated by the Kannadigas and Telugu people in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, in some parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

New Delhi: Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday gave a three-line reply to former prime minister H D Deve Gowda over his concerns about opposition disruptions in Parliament, saying his observations have been noted. Gandhi also extended greetings to Deve Gowda on the eve of Ugadi.

Deve Gowda wrote to Gandhi on Monday, saying he has been "greatly disturbed by a certain chaos" that has been "unthinkingly" introduced inside Parliament and in its larger premises, "primarily by the opposition parties".

"I strongly feel that Congress parliamentarians, led by the Leader of Opposition, have provoked far too many disruptions inside Parliament and in its premises," the JD (S) Rajya Sabha MP said in the letter, adding that their dharnas and blockades outside Parliament were "unprecedented".

"Parliament, in recent times, has witnessed an excess of slogan-shouting, display of placards and name-calling. There has been an attitude of non-seriousness, which has assaulted my very idea and construct of Parliament and parliamentary democracy," he added.

Replying to the letter, Gandhi said, "Dear Shri Devegowda ji, I have just received your letter dated 16th March 2026. I have read it carefully and noted your concerns." "I extend my greetings to you on the eve of Ugadi," Gandhi said in her brief reply to Gowda's two-page letter.

Ugādi is the first day of the year on the Hindu calendar. It is traditionally celebrated by the Kannadigas and Telugu people in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, in some parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

In his letter to Gandhi, JD(S) chief Deve Gowda had said his idea of parliamentary democracy has been built on the lessons and guidance that the founding fathers like Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, B R Ambedkar and Moulana Abdul Kalam Azad, among others, have imparted.

"In my long exposure, I have never witnessed Parliament in such chaos and casualness that we have seen recently. Let me tell you, in all my career, even under extreme provocation, I have never entered the Well of the House to protest either in the state legislature or in Parliament. That culture was what the elders of our democracy taught us," he said.

"You, yourself, have spent long years in the opposition, and while there, you have conducted yourself with grace and maturity," he said.

Deve Gowda urged Gandhi to speak to her party leaders and others in the opposition, and ask them "not to harm themselves, their cause and their political futures in the long run".

"I am very confident that you will do the needful... I believe that the opposition must protest as much as it wants, but that protest has to be framed in a way that does not dismantle what we have built together, in over 75 glorious years," the former prime minister had said.