Venkaiah Naidu expunges Nirmala Sitharaman’s remarks on Sonia Gandhi

Aditi Tandon

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New Delhi, August 1

Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday expunged the remarks by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman made in reference to Congress President Sonia Gandhi on July 28, while seeking an apology from party’s Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury over his “rashtrapatni” remarks regarding President Droupadi Murmu.

Sitharaman had, during her intervention on the issue, demanded an apology from Sonia Gandhi, with the Congress claiming she had nothing to do with the matter.

The development came after senior opposition leaders including leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress whip in RS Jairam Ramesh, TMC’s Derek O Brien and others met Naidu this evening in the presence of RS leader Piyush Goyal and argued that as per well laid down conventions and rulings of past presiding officers, a member of the Lok Sabha could not be named in the Rajya Sabha.

Kharge had earlier also written to Naidu urging him to expunge FM’s remarks on Sonia, who is a Lok Sabha MP.

The agreement on the issue today paves the way for smooth functioning of Rajya Sabha from Tuesday, when the house is scheduled to discuss price rise, as sought by the opposition.

Earlier today, Lok Sabha Speaker restored peace in a dysfunctional lower house by revoking the suspension of four Congress MPs on the assurance that they won’t carry placards to the chamber.

With the thaw today, the government floor leaders hope to pass the pending legislative agenda in both houses.

The first two weeks of Parliament have been a complete washout, with the opposition insisting on a discussion on price rise, GST, Agnipath before anything else.

The government had said it would hold the price rise debate once FM Sitharaman recovered from Covid and returned to Parliament.

She returned last week with the Lok Sabha discussing inflation on Monday.