Congress Walks Out Of Rajya Sabha Alleging Barricading Of Gandhis' Homes

Congress MPs walked out from the Rajya Sabha towards the end of proceedings on Wednesday after the Chair did not permit party leader Mallikarjun Kharge to raise the issue of alleged police barricading outside the residences of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

While Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Anurag Thakur was replying to the debate on The National Anti-Doping Bill, 2022, Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress member Mr Kharge stood up and said the residences of his party president Sonia Gandhi and former president Rahul Gandhi have been "surrounded by the Delhi Police".

However, Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who was presiding over the proceedings, did not allow him to raise the issue.

"If I do not speak in the House, where else will I speak?" Mr Kharge said.

In the meantime, Leader of the House and Union Minister Piyush Goyal too joined the issue, saying the matter does not concern the Rajya Sabha.

"There is an order in the House and the Bill is being discussed. Law is taking its course," Mr Goyal said, taking a jibe on the Congress, saying they should have thought of about the consequences while engaging in such activities, hinting at the money laundering case against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.

Amid the uproar, the Congress members walked out of the House.

Earlier in the day, the Congress and other opposition parties had forced adjournments in the Lok Sabha while protesting on a host of issues, including the imposition of GST on essential items, inflation and ED actions.

The road to All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters here was blocked Wednesday with the Congress alleging such actions have become a norm rather than an exception while the police said barricades have been erected and its personnel deputed to avoid any untoward situation.

This came soon after the ED temporarily sealed the premises of Young Indian (YI) in the Congress-owned National Herald office in Delhi as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation.

According to official sources, the temporary seal in the National Herald office was put in order to "preserve the evidence" which could not be collected as authorised representatives were not present during the raids on Tuesday.

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday functioned for the full sitting free of any disruptions (except towards the last by the Congress) and forced adjournments which marked the previous 12 sittings of the current Monsoon session.

For the first time in the session, Zero Hour was taken up with 17 MPs raising issues of public importance.

These included issues related to supporting education of girl students, docking of a Chinese Spy Submarine at the Sri Lankan Port, exclusion of children from PM-Poshan Scheme due to mandatory linkage of Aadhar, irregularities in the construction of Gaushalas under MNREGA in Madhya Pradesh, high cost of cancer treatment, attacks on Gurudwaras and Sikhs in Afghanistan.

MPs, with prior permission of the Chair, raise important issues during the Zero Hour.

Seven special mentions too were taken up New MP and legendry sports person P T Usha made her maiden speech in the House while speaking on the National Anti-Doping Bill which was discussed for about six hours.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)