"Pale Faces After Rahul Gandhi Speech": Uddhav Thackeray's Party Jabs BJP

The official mouthpiece of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackrey Faction), Saamana, has come out in support of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after a notice was served on him for making alleged unparliamentary remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha on February 7.

The Congress MP made the alleged remarks during his address on the Motion of Thanks to the President's joint address to the Parliament.

The Marathi publication, which has Uddhav Thackrey as the editor and Shivsena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut as associate editor, released an editorial on Tuesday, labelling the notice served on the Congress leader as 'cowardice' and 'dictatorship'.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat had issued a notice of breach of privilege to Rahul after the BJP accused him of making false, derogatory, unparliamentary and misleading statements against Prime Minister Modi on the floor of Parliament.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi accused the Congress's former national president of mouthing falsehoods against PM Modi.

On their allegations, the Lok Sabha Secretariat sent a notice to Rahul asking him to reply to the same by February 15.

"The faces of BJP members turned pale in Parliament after Rahul's speech in the Lok Sabha on February 7," claimed the Saamana editorial.

The column stated further that Prime Minister Modi veered to different topics and evaded direct questions posed by the Congress MP on his alleged relationship with billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani.

The name of 'Rahul' is enough to fill the BJP with fear, the column claimed.

It alleged further that Mr Adani's businesses peaked only after the BJP came to power in 2014.

Coming out in support of Rahul, the column went, "Instead of sending notices to him, the Prime Minister should have replied to his questions. This is nothing but dictatorship and cowardice."

Also lauding Rahul's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', the mouthpiece of Uddhav Sena said it is visible that tremendous energy has been generated through the foot march.

"At present, the relationship between PM Modi and Mr Adani is being discussed all over the world. The shares of Mr Adani's companies fell, and public money is at risk. How can Rahul Gandhi be a criminal for raising pertinent questions?" read the editorial.

It said that every question related to the country and the public interest should be raised in the Parliament and the government should answer and not dodge them.

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