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‘Became so violent…’: Ravneet Singh Bittu recalls Rahul Gandhi's ‘traitor’ barb at Parliament
The confrontation took place on Wednesday morning near Parliament’s Makar Dwar, the main entrance to the new Parliament building.
Union Minister of State for Railways and Food Processing Industries Ravneet Singh Bittu on Saturday hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for calling him a “traitor”, alleging that Gandhi lost his temper and moved towards him during an altercation outside Parliament earlier this week.
Bittu also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leaders for standing by him following the incident.
Ravneet Singh Bittu's response to ‘traitor’ remark
Speaking to the media in Amritsar, Bittu said he did not leave the Congress midway, stressing that he completed his third term as a Congress MP before joining the BJP.
Referring to the exchange with Gandhi, Bittu said, “A balloon inside him (Gandhi) burst. The person from a very big family, see what he was saying.” He added that Gandhi was offering a handshake, “thinking that he is a ‘shahanshah’ (emperor)”.
Asked whether Gandhi had lowered his own stature by attacking him, Bittu replied, “You can say this.” He added, “In politics, we speak about ideology but we do not make personal attacks.”
Replying to another question, Bittu alleged that Gandhi moved towards him aggressively. “When I was going to Parliament, Gandhi was coming towards me after losing his temper. His one arm was held by Congress leader K C Venugopal and the other by Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Randhawa. He became so violent, do not know what he had, only God knows,” Bittu claimed.
The confrontation took place on Wednesday morning near Parliament’s Makar Dwar, the main entrance to the new Parliament building.
Bittu joined the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. A Rajya Sabha member, he was inducted as a minister in the third term of the Modi government.
Also Read | ‘Here's a traitor’: Rahul Gandhi's remark at Bittu in Parliament sparks major row
What happened?
As Bittu was entering Parliament, Gandhi allegedly called him a “traitor”, to which the Union minister retorted with a “desh ke dushman” (enemy of the country) jibe.
At the time, Gandhi was standing on the stairs outside Parliament in solidarity with suspended Congress MPs, most of them from Punjab.
Congress leadership questioned
The Union minister also questioned the Congress leadership over leaders from other parties being given key positions. He asked from which party Amarinder Singh came when he was made Punjab chief minister and from which party Navjot Singh Sidhu came when he was appointed Punjab Congress chief.
“Who was made the (Punjab) Congress president? Navjot Singh Sidhu. Which party did he come from? Was he a Congressman?” he asked.
Bittu further targeted Punjab Congress leaders, including Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, for criticising him after the Parliament incident. He alleged that both Randhawa and Warring failed to ensure the victory of their wives in by-elections.
He also criticised the Congress for not conferring the Bharat Ratna on his grandfather, former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, who was assassinated in 1995. The party, he said, awarded the honour to former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi but not to Beant Singh.
