Walked out as chairman, PM didn't give respect to LoP: Rajya Sabha opposition leaders

Opposition leaders, who walked out of Rajya Sabha midway through the PM's speech on Wednesday, said they were protesting against the Chairman and the prime minister "not allowing" Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge to intervene. Kharge said he wanted to rebut the prime minister's charge against Congress and wanted to point out who all were supporting and who all were against the Constitution when it was conceptualised by the Constituent Assembly.

Flanked by leaders of INDIA bloc outside the Parliament House, Kharge said: "We walked out of the Rajya Sabha because the prime minister, while addressing the House on the President's address, told some wrong things to the House. It's his habit to lie and say things beyond the truth. When he was speaking about the Constitution, I wanted to tell him you didn't make the Constitution, you people were against it. I was just clarifying who all were for and who all were against the Constitution. They (RSS) have opposed the Constitution. They burnt the effigy of BR Ambedkar and Pandit Nehru... He (PM) said time and again that we (Congress) disrespected BR Ambedkar. He said it in the other House (Lok Sabha) and he is saying it today also. I wanted to tell what Babasaheb had said in praise of Congress when he was made the chairman of the drafting committee. I had come prepared with the speech of Babasaheb then and also what RSS weekly 'Organiser' had written against the Constitution".

Kharge pointed out that in contrast, the prime minister and some ministers were allowed to intervene when LoP in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, was speaking on Monday.

Taking objection to the way Kharge was ignored in the House, NCP-SP leader Sharad Pawar said: "He (Kharge) is in a constitutional post. Be it the PM or the Chairman of the House, it's their responsibility to respect him. But today it was all ignored, and therefore, the entire Opposition is with him and we walked out of the House."

The Opposition walkout midway through the PM's speech in the RS marked a different approach compared to the Opposition MPs in the LS who indulged in sloganeering throughout the PM's speech a day earlier. Congress LS member Gaurav Gogoi said the Opposition MPs in the LS indulged in sloganeering during the PM's speech on Tuesday because Congress' plea to allow one of its Manipur MPs to speak just before the PM's speech was not allowed.