War of words between Jagdeep Dhankhar and Mallikarjun Kharge

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday witnessed a war of words between Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and the Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge.

When Congress leader Pramod Tiwari was speaking on the motion of thanks to the President's address in the Upper House, Dhankhar interrupted him and said that he should not state unverified facts. At that point, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the Congress leader would authenticate it. This triggered a war of words from both sides.

"You are so intelligent, so gifted, so talented, you should immediately come and take the seat in place of Mr Kharge because, by and large, you are doing his job," the chairman told Ramesh. This was objected to by Kharge and said that the chair was trying to bring the 'varna' system. "That's why you are calling Ramesh very intelligent, and I am dull," Kharge reiterated. Dhankhar accused Kharge of twisting his remarks and using it to disrespect him.

"You cannot run down the chair every time. You cannot disrespect the chair every time... You stand suddenly and speak whatever you want without understanding what I am saying," Dhankhar said. Kharge responded by saying that whatever he is today is because of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and the people. After this short verbal duel, the House ran smoothly with Tiwari continuing with his speech.