Cong MP accuses Irani of ‘insulting’ her, to take up matter in LS

The Congress party plans to move another notice of breach of privilege against Union minister for human resource development, Smriti Irani, this time for allegedly “insulting” one of their members of Parliament.

MP Ranjita Ranjan, representing Supaul (Bihar) in Lok Sabha, said Irani insulted her by mentioning that her husband – Lok Sabha MP Rajesh Ranjan – had written letters seeking favours from the minister.

Countering Irani, the Congress argued that an MP can always send letters to ministers to help people. “There’s nothing wrong in it. But the way she mentioned her name was a deliberate attempt to malign the image of our MP,” Congress MP, K C Venugopal said.

Ranjan is expected to give the notice to the Lok Sabha Speaker on Tuesday.

Watch: Smriti Irani take on Rahul over Rohith Vemula suicide issue

Venugopal had earlier moved the breach of privilege motion against Irani in the lower house, signaling a showdown between the government and Opposition over the issue of the Dalit scholar, Rohit Vemula’s suicide at the Hyderabad central university.

The motion was moved against the minister in both Houses of Parliament over her speech on the Jawaharlal Nehru University row and the Hyderabad University issue.

Apart from the Congress, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and Janata Dal (United) have also moved charges against Irani.

Read: Irani slams Cong over Vemula suicide, JNU row; Modi tweets her speech