Sonia Gandhi gets angry at BJP member's remarks against her

A remark against her by a BJP member on Wednesday angered Congress president Sonia Gandhi who rushed into the Well of the Lok Sabha along with her party colleagues, protesting vigorously and forcing adjournment of the House for about an hour.

The Lok Sabha witnessed on Wednesday a rare sight of Congress president Sonia Gandhi rushing to the Well to vehemently lodge her protest as a BJP MP hurled personal allegations against her during a debate on the adjournment motion on the so-called Lalitgate controversy.

As Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge was speaking on the motion, Aligarh BJP MP Satish Gautam interrupted with provocative allegations against the Congress President. “Kya (what)? What did he say?” a visibly-upset Sonia was heard asking.

She then stood up and rushed to the Well, followed by all Congress MPs. They demanded an apology as Rahul Gandhi was seen trying to calm his mother.

To show solidarity with her, the CPI(M) and some Trinamool Congress MPs also came down to the Well. In the din, Sonia could be heard asking Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, “What is this? How could you allow him to speak?”

The Speaker said Gautam’s remarks wouldn’t get into records and the House was then adjourned for an hour. As the House re-assembled, parliamentary affairs minister Venkaiah Naidu said no allegation should be made against any member, particularly an important leader like the Congress president, the Prime Minister or BJP president.

Supported by Rahul, she has rallied party members in the House, and the Congress with just 44 MPs has managed to corner the 282-member BJP in the Lok Sabha in the past two sessions. Her decision to march to Rashtrapati Bhavan over the Land Acquisition Bill in the last session set the tone for the party’s aggression inside and outside Parliament.