Team News Riveting
New Delhi, December 19
The face-off between the opposition and ruling NDA over alleged insult to B R Ambedkar took an ugly twist on Parliament premises Thursday with claims of pushing and shoving involving MPs, leaving two BJP members hospitalised.
A woman BJP MP also accused Rahul Gandhi of “misbehaving” with her. The BJP charged Gandhi with pushing an MP leading to injuries to two of its lawmakers. However, Gandhi denied it and said it was he who was pushed by a ruling party member. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge also accused protesting BJP members of shoving him and injuring his knees.
Both sides lodged complaints at Parliament Street police station. They also complained to the respective Chair in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha against each other.
BJP MPs Mukesh Rajput and Pratap Chandra Sarangi sustained injuries and were admitted to the RML hospital. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi spoke to them over phone to enquire about their health.
The 69-year-old Sarangi is a BJP member from Balasore in Odisha and a former minister. The Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Ajay Shukla said they had sustained head injuries.
“We have filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi for physical assault and incitement,” BJP MP Anurag Thakur told reporters outside the police station.
The incident took place when a number of MPs of the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance were protesting at the steps of Parliament’s ‘Makar Dwar’, an entrance and exit reserved for lawmakers, against the Congress’s alleged insult of Ambedkar, while MPs from the Congress and its allies were demonstrating over Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar and accused the BJP of slighting the architect of the Constitution. The incident happened minutes before both Houses were to convene at 11 am.
The BJP MPs claimed that Gandhi tried to push his way inside Parliament through the middle of the stairs where they were standing, ignoring a side passage, and caused injuries in the ensuing jostling. However, some opposition MPs claimed that the BJP members refused to give way to Gandhi who was heading to the Lok Sabha to attend the House proceedings.
Rejecting the BJP members’ charge, Gandhi told reporters, “I was trying to enter Parliament and the BJP MPs were stopping me, pushing me and threatening me.”
