New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for speaking in Lok Sabha on “various other issues” but not on the subject of LPG on which he wanted a discussion.
After Gandhi’s speech in the House, Rijiju told reporters that the Congress has not learnt any lesson after the two-day discussion on the no-confidence motion against Speaker Om Birla.
He said the Leader of Opposition submitted a letter to the Speaker stating that he wanted to discuss on the reported LPG shortage.
Subsequently, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri was asked to prepare a response, Rijiju said.
“Rahul Gandhi was given special permission to speak in the House. As soon as he was allowed to speak, he didn’t speak on LPG, but instead began speaking on various other issues. He did not speak on the subject,” the parliamentary affairs minister said.
He alleged that when Puri was giving a statement, Gandhi “again sent all his MPs to the well”.
“We requested the LoP to speak on the topic, and the Speaker also repeatedly requested the same. But Rahul Gandhi did not even speak on the topic. When the Petroleum Minister was responding, he made his MPs create chaos in the House. I was hoping that the House proceedings would be conducted peacefully today after two days of debate. However, the Congress has not learnt its lesson,” Rijiju said.
Gandhi alleged that the government has “bartered” to the US India’s right to determine its relationships with different oil suppliers due to a “compromise”.
He said the war between the US-Israel and Iran is going to have far-reaching consequences.
“The pain has just started — restaurants are closing, there is widespread panic about LPG, street vendors are affected and as I said, this is only the beginning,” the former Congress president said.
The foundation of every single nation is its energy security, he asserted.
“I do not say this lightly, but allowing the US to decide who we buy oil, gas from… whether we buy oil from Russia or not, whether our relationship with different oil suppliers can be decided by us, this is what has been bartered,” he alleged.
“…We have a gentleman sitting here who is the oil minister (Hardeep Puri), he himself has said that he is a friend of Mr Epstein,” Gandhi said, adding, “I have a document which shows his (Puri’s) daugther has received money from George Soros.” This evoked an uproar from the treasury benches.
Speaker Birla asked Gandhi to speak on the notice he has given and not move to other topics.
With Gandhi repeatedly asserted that what he was saying was connected with energy security, Birla asked Puri to make his statement. PTI ACB ZMN
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