Naidu likely to send BJP motion against Rahul Gandhi to Lok Sabha

BJP’s privilege motion is against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for mocking finance minister Arun Jaitley by twisting the spelling of his surname.

Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu may forward to the Lok Sabha the BJP’s privilege motion against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for mocking finance minister Arun Jaitley by twisting the spelling of his surname.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi. (PTI file)

“The matter relates to a member of the Lok Sabha (and) is likely to be forwarded to the Lower House for further action,” a source privy to the matter told Hindustan Times.

BJP MP Bhupendra Yadav on Thursday submitted a privilege notice against Gandhi for his tweet in which he questioned Jaitley’s claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “did not question” his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh’s commitment to the nation when he accused him of conspiring with Pakistan to affect the outcome of the Gujarat elections through a “secret meeting” at the house of Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar.

The former PM had slammed Modi for spreading “falsehood and canards” to “score political points in a lost cause.”

Gandhi had spelt the finance minister’s surname differently while thanking him “for reminding India that our PM never means what he says or says what he means”.

Significantly, the Rajya Sabha chairman had rebuked Congress for demanding an apology from Modi for his controversial remark. “Nobody is going to give apology. Nothing happened in the House. The statement was not made here,” Naidu had said.

The BJP, meanwhile, has taken strong exception to Rahul’s remarks, with its leader calling the jibe at the finance minister as “unacceptable”.

The party is expected to raise the matter in the Rajya Sabha again when the Parliament resumes work on Tuesday.