Jagdeep Dhankhar rejects Kharge’s objection to Rajya Sabha discussing Rahul Gandhi’s statement; Congress hits back

Amid a logjam over Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on democracy, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on April 5 rejected Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s ‘point of order’ that there cannot be a discussion on Mr. Gandhi.

Amid a logjam over Rahul Gandhi's remarks on democracy, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on April 5 rejected Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's 'point of order' that there cannot be a discussion on Mr. Gandhi, who was then a Lok Sabha MP, saying there can be no issue or individual beyond the purview of discussion in the Upper House.

The ruling BJP has, since the resumption of the Budget session of Parliament after a break, demanded that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should come to Rajya Sabha and tender an apology for his "democracy in danger" remarks made in the U.K. recently.

The Congress has, however, countered this saying someone who is not an MP of Rajya Sabha cannot be called to the House and there cannot be any discussion/reflection on or about an MP of Lok Sabha. Congress later on Wednesday also said presiding officers in legislatures are expected to be fair, even-handed and non-partisan, and cannot display their biases or their loyalty to the ruling party, without naming anyone.

In his ruling, Mr. Dhankhar said that "the authenticated record made available by the Leader of House Piyush Goyal bears out that his demand of apology on the overseas statements made by a senior leader of the Opposition is factually premised...".

He gave his ruling on the objection that Mr. Kharge, who is the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, raised through a point of order.

However, Mr. Dhankhar neither explicitly referred to BJP's demand that Mr. Gandhi should come to Rajya Sabha to apologise nor indicated if that was permissible.

ALSO READ | ‘Modi’ does not denote a single community, single caste or single vocational group, Rahul Gandhi’s appeal contends