New Delhi: Union Minister Lalan Singh attacked the Opposition for its criticism of the budgetary allocations to Bihar, saying that efforts to wedge a divide would fail given the ‘Fevicol’ bond of the JD(U) and the BJP.
Singh, the JD(U) MP from Munger, further used the analogy from Ludo to state that the snake would bite the Congress party at 99 (read, its tally in the Lok Sabha) and that they would fall down to zero once again.
“Bihar and Andhra Pradesh are part of India. The real reason (for the protests) is that the opposition parties are not digesting the victory of Modi in the Lok Sabha election for the third time. They don’t like the face of Modi; that is why instead of discussing Budget, they are discussing Modi during the Budget discussion,” he said in the Lok Sabha.
“Their real problem is that they are not able to tolerate the victory of the NDA in the election and not accepting realities. But there is no option when the people of the country have given a verdict in favour of Modi. But the efforts of creating differences will not be successful as the JD(U) alliance with the BJP is like that of Fevicol.”
The JD(U), Singh said, came out from the INDIA bloc because they used to conspire to place one party to fight with another and were always pushing for pie like ‘Gidh’ (vulture).
“We were with them in Bihar but these people fought like Gidh to snatch their share of power … that is why the JD(U) came out from the INDIA bloc.”
Taking a dig at the Congress’s renewed energies after getting 99 seats, Singh cautioned the main opposition party that the number 99 was very tricky.
“Like in Ludo, 99 is very dangerous. You have seen how the snake bites and any person on 99 comes down to 0. The Congress should accept the reality of not getting the mandate, else the snake will bite them in the next election,” he added.
The statements drew sharp exchanges from Congress’s Congress MPs Jai Prakash and Deepender Hooda, but Jagdmbika Pal, who was at chair, declined the point of order raised by the duo.
He then went on to mention the speech of Sirsa MP Kumari Selja to rebut the charges of Prakash that Haryana was ignored in the Budget. “I heard the entire speech of Selja ji. The whole speech was centred around Haryana. This is the Budget of the country, not just Haryana.”
Singh then went on to attack TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, who had delivered a searing speech against the Modi government in Parliament.
“Abhishek Banerjee has said in the House that this Budget is not for people, but he kept his eye blind and has not spoken on what is happening in Bengal and how women has been attacked, tortured. He should speak on this issue but he kept quiet. One Congress leader in this House used to say that no district monitoring committee meeting was held in five years in his constituency due to Trinamool atrocities. Why are you not mentioning these things?” the JD(U) MP said, referring to Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s complaint against TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.
Earlier, the fourth day of Budget discussion began on a stormy note when Kalyan Banerjee of TMC sought to speak on BJP state chief Sukanta Majumdar’s suggestion that North Bengal be incorporated with the Northeast.
But Speaker Om Birla refused saying that the statement was not made in the House. Banerjee then sought to corner the BJP by mentioning Nishikant Dubey’s Thursday speech that parts of Jharkhand and Bengal be declared a Union Territory to deal with the challenge posed by the increasing number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in the region.
“A BJP member has made this statement in the House to divide Bengal by carving out two of its districts,” the TMC MP said.
As the Speaker did not allow Banerjee, a ruckus ensued following which the House was adjourned for a brief period.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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