Rahul Gandhi: "Read My Lips, PM Modi is Personally Terrified..."

NEW DELHI: The winter session of Parliament is ending with a fierce face off between the Opposition and the Government on demonetisation. On Wednesday after both Houses of Parliament were adjourned yet again Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, backed by the Opposition, addressed a press conference where he insisted that the had information on the personal corruption of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he had been trying to speak of in the Lok Sabha but was being repeatedly blocked by the BJP members.

Rahul Gandhi who has been amongst the four leaders very vocal on demonetisation--the other three being BSP chief Mayawati, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-- insisted that he had explosive information on the Prime Minister and this was the reason why the treasury benches were not allowing him to speak in Parliament. He said the Prime Minister was “terrified” and was running scared. He said PM Modi had refused to come to Parliament, even as he was present at rock concerts and public meetings.

“For the first time in the history of the Lok Sabha the goverment is not allowing the House to proceed, usually it is the opposition”, he said. In an attack targeting the PM, the Congress leader was able to set the cat amongst the pigeons with his media briefing where he urged the Speaker to allow the Opposition Mps to speak, after which the treasury benches could get all the time they wanted, “and let the nation decide who is speaking the truth.”

“They have not allowed me to open my mouth in the House as I have information about the personal corruption of the Prime Minister,” Rahul Gandhi said. He said that the PM should stop running away and speak inside the Houses of Parliament.

The BJP fielded a host of leaders through the day countering the Congress and the Opposition. The defence moved from personal comments against Rahul Gandhi to allegation that the Congress was laundering money, and the Opposition had stalled Parliament. Both accused the other of not letting a discussion take place, with the BJP insisting that it was not possible for the PM to be in both Houses of Parliament at the same time, and the Opposition insisting that the PM was “running away” from a point by point statement.

The winter session of Parliament that has been caught up with the issue of demonetisation has set the tone for the next weeks and months run up to Assembly elections in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh along with other states. Mamata Banerjee led a delegation to President Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi in what became a frontal attack by her on the BJP and PM Modi; Kejriwal held public meetings in Delhi joined in by Bannerjee and other opposition leaders; Mayawati was allowed by the Opposition to take the lead in castigating the government on demonetisation in the Upper House; while Rahul Gandhi seems to have finally galvanised the Congress in both Houses of Parliament and in protests outside on the issue.



Initially PM Modi chose not to be present in the House when the Opposition was raising the issue. After several days he sat in the Rajya Sabha that started a discussion on demonetisation but did not return when the House met after a lunch break. Since then the discussion agreed to has not taken place with the Opposition wanting a vote, the government resisting it; the Opposition insisting on the presence of the PM, the PM ignoring it; and finally more recently the Opposition in the Lok Sabha wanting time for Rahul Gandhi to speak and lay his “proof” of the PMs corruption as he put it on the table of the House and the treasury benches opposing this.