New Delhi: Three BJP MPs found themselves at the centre of a controversy Thursday when NDA and Congress parliamentarians jostled at the gates of Parliament House.
While BJP's Lok Sabha MPs PC Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput were hurt during the commotion, party's Rajya Sabha MP from Nagaland Phangon Konyak alleged that Congress MP and Lok Sabha's Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi "came in very close proximity" to her and she "really felt very uncomfortable and he started shouting which is very unbecoming of a leader of the opposition."
PM Narendra Modi called Pratap Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput and inquired about their health after they sustained injuries. Here is a look at who these three lawmakers are:
1. Pratap Chandra Sarangi
BJP leader PC Sarangi is an MP from the Balasore constituency in Odisha. The 69-year-old was elected as a Member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly twice, from 2004 to 2009 and from 2009 to 2014, both times from the Nilagiri constituency.
He contested 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Balasore but lost. He, however, won in 2019 from the same constituency, defeating Biju Janata Dal candidate and sitting MP, Rabindra Kumar Jena, by a margin of over 12,000 votes. He was the MoS for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries in the second term of the Narendra Modi government.
He came to the limelight in 2019 after images of him packing a simple bag at his modest thatched house before leaving for Delhi surfaced on X (then Twitter).
2. Mukesh Rajput
A three-time MP from Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh, Rajput, 55, is seen as among the more prominent Lodh leaders of the state. Rajput emerged as a giant killer in 2014 after defeating sitting MP and former Union minister Salman Khurshid, who finished fourth. Five years later, Rajput defeated BSP candidate Manoj Agarwal and Khurshid, who this time finished second runner-up.
In the latest Lok Sabha polls, Rajput won again, but this time he defeated the SP's Naval Kishore Shakya by a small margin of just over 2,000 votes.
3. Phangon Konyak
S Phangnon Konyak made history on July 25, 2023, by becoming the first woman from Nagaland to preside over the Rajya Sabha. Rajya Sabha had nominated her to the panel of Vice Chairpersons on July 17 last year. She is also the first woman to be elected to Rajya Sabha from Nagaland and the second woman from the state to be elected to either house of the Parliament or the state assembly.
