Parliament Winter Session: Congress chief Kharge and JP Nadda clash in Rajya Sabha over Lok Bhavan renaming

Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi outside the Parliament. Pic/PTI

The third day of the Parliament Winter Session saw a heated exchange when Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge and the Chairman CP Radhakrishnan had heated banter in the Rajya Sabha. The Upper House on Wednesday further agreed to hold a discussion on the renaming of the Governor's residence to Lok Bhavan.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge at the Upper House said, "Everything is connected to the subject, and that subject was examined in your (RS Chairman) office. After that, only she (Dola Sen) spoke. The Leader of the House cannot interfere and say everything is unparliamentary; you delete. The Leader is telling; the Leader is bulldozing," as cited by news agency ANI.

While questioning JP Nadda at the Rajya Sabha, Kharge said, "Do we not want to run (the House) according to parliamentary democracy? All the records - keep them intact; not a single word should be removed."

BJP chief JP Nadda in reply said that, "I need your protection, sir. I have never bulldozed. I have only said that whatever is related to the subject should be admitted, and whatever is not related, you may please examine," as quoted by news agency ANI.

The heated exchange between the two took place after TMC MP Dola Sen spoke on the issue and accused the BJP of running a "dictatorship" that will eventually be thrown out by the people.

TMC MP Dola Sen claimed that the state governments were not consulted before changing the name of Raj Bhavan, which is now Lok Bhavan.

"The expenses for (Lok Bhavan) are borne by the state government for many years, but the state assembly is not aware of these notifications (on name change). Surely the state government should be consulted. This is not just an attack on federalism...but in effect Raj Bhavan is being made to run a parallel government and to use them as extended party officers of BJP."

TMC MP Dola Sen, during her speech at the Upper House, asked, "As part of a larger conspiracy, in Bengal, the order of MHA has been brought into effect, but what is the situation of people on the ground?" " as per ANI.

She further criticised the Centre for allegedly not clearing the dues of West Bengal, including Rs 43 thousand crore for MNREGA, Rs 42,600 crore for cyclones, and Rs 24,200 crore for the Rural Housing Scheme.

Following the speech by the TMC MP, Leader of the House and BJP MP JP Nadda requested the chairman to examine Dola Sen's words and strike anything off the record that is not related to the discussion at hand.

Nadda asserted, "She was permitted to speak on zero hour, but she used this opportunity to raise the issue in the House about the issue related to MNREGA and other issues. I would like to be very clear that because it is not related to the subject, it should be deleted, and it should not be brought to record, and the only issue related to the Lok Bhawan should be admitted," as per ANI.

Following the request made by JP Nadda, Chairman Radhakrishnan agreed with Nadda's request, saying that it was already made clear that anything unrelated to the discussion would not be put on the record. He further said, "Yes, I have already said anything deviating from the subject will not go on record."

The third day of the winter session of Parliament started at 11 AM today, with the INDIA bloc MPs launching a protest against the 4 Labour Codes outside Parliament premises.

(With inputs from ANI)