Congress LS MPs meet: Rahul says govt 'under pressure' on Vande Mataram, election reforms issues

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday hailed his party MPs' performance during the debates in both Houses on Vande Mataram and election reforms, and claimed that the government's narrative was shredded to pieces by the opposition.

Gandhi, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, chaired a meeting with Congress MPs in the Lower House and also heard the views of the party legislators besides taking their feedback.

During the meeting, Gandhi told party MPs that the government seemed "under pressure" from the opposition on both the issues, sources said.

Later, speaking with reporters in Parliament House complex, Gandhi said, "There was an acrimonious debate on Vande Mataram and SIR (Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls). I felt good because in both the debates, we shredded their narrative to pieces (dhajjiya uda di unki)."

He claimed that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was disturbed during the SIR debate and even used an abusive word in Parliament.

"So he was mentally disturbed and under pressure and there is a reason for that -- the whole structure is involved in vote chori, the whole country knows it," Gandhi claimed.

Deputy Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said it was discussed during the meeting that the party was successful in raising the current problems of the people such as IndiGo flight disruptions, air pollution and labour codes issue.

"It was also discussed how during the debate on 150 years of Vande Mataram, Mallikarjun Kharge Ji in the Rajya Sabha and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra ji in the Lok Sabha brought the truth before the people and blunted the intentions of politicising the issue," Gogoi told reporters after the meeting.

"On vote chori, everyone saw how Rahul Gandhi ji challenged the home minister for a debate on the floor of the House on the issues raised by him in the press conferences on the basis of evidence. The home minister was rattled and also made some unparliamentary remarks," he said.

Congress' chief whip K Suresh said it was a routine meeting that Gandhi calls every session to evaluate the performance of MPs and also heard their views and feedback.

The Congress' Lok Sabha MPs also observed silence to pay their respects to former Union minister Shivraj Patil, who passed away this morning in Latur.

While the debate on Vande Mataram has been wrapped up in both Houses, the debate on election reforms is still on in the Rajya Sabha.