'Could be grenade, bomb...': Congress wants action against BJP MP Pratap Simha over Lok Sabha security breach
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor claimed there were deficiencies in the security arrangement in the new parliament building.
New Delhi: A day after two intruders created a ruckus inside the Lok Sabha chamber, the Congress and the BJP blamed each other for the major security breach, with the former demanding "strict" action against the latter's MP Pratap Simha, who had provided access passes to the accused. A united opposition also insisted on union minister Amit Shah's statement in the parliament and questioned his and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's absence.
"The INDIA parties are demanding: 1. a detailed statement by the Home Minister in both Houses, followed by a discussion on the very serious and shocking security breach witnessed in the Lok Sabha yesterday. 2. Strict action against the BJP MP Pratap Simha, who provided the visitor passes to the intruders," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wrote on X.
"The Modi government's refusal to accept these perfectly legitimate and reasonable demands has led to the adjournment of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha today morning," he said.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor claimed there were deficiencies in the security arrangements in the new parliament building.
"If you can smuggle in smoke cannisters, you can easily smuggle something far more serious like a bomb or grenade or pistol, whatever. The security lapses are the issue. The problem is that the government is not taking this seriously enough. Why is the home minister not accountable, why is the government not feeling it is accountable to be the people." he said.
Also read: Who is BJP MP Pratap Simha who gave Lok Sabha passes to intruders? What he said
"The new parliament has many security deficiencies that became apparent today. But we also want the home minister to come to speak in the parliament. The fact that he was not there, the prime minister was there, this doesn't reflect well. The defense minister's remark wasn't enough in the eyes of the MPs," he said.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Amit Malviya linked the intruders to what he called the Congress-Communist axis
"As details emerge, it is getting obvious that DNA of those, who breached Parliament security, is inextricably linked to the Congress-Communist axis. The kinds who were part of Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra and active participants in the orchestrated protests seen in the past..." Amit Malviya Posted on X.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said: "Everyone has condemned this incident. You (Speaker) have taken cognizance of the matter. We have to be careful about to whom we issue the passes (to enter Parliament). All precautions possible will be taken in future. Such incidents of jumping also used to happen in the old parliament building".
The Lok Sabha Secretariat suspended eight security personnel for security lapses that led to the breach.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs ordered a probe into the security breach after setting up a panel under the CRPF chief Anish Dayal Singh.
With inputs from PTI, ANI