New Delhi: Congress on Thursday said the Central government is undermining the Constitutional power of Parliament by not 'allowing' other party leaders to speak during the meeting. The attack on the ruling party comes after Union Minister Prakash Javadekar criticized Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for walking out of the Parliamentary Standing Committee Defence meeting held yesterday.
While speaking to the media, Congress's General Secretary in-charge KC Venugopal said, "Prakash Javadekar's statement was totally misleading. He is misleading this whole country. The power of the committee is being undermined by the Chairman. My colleagues have told me that Rahul Ji did not get a chance to speak. It is the right of a member to speak, which was being denied."
He further added, "Rahul Ji said in that meeting that the uniform should be decided by the hierarchy of the armed forces. What's wrong in that? This Government is undermining Parliamentary Committee. They don't want any discussion in the Parliamentary Committee. They are undermining the Constitutional power of the Parliament."
On Wednesday, three Congress leaders, including Gandhi, walked out of the meeting after not being allowed to speak during a discussion on the uniform and ranks of armed forces.
READ: 'Allow MPs to speak freely in parliamentary meets'
As per the sources, Gandhi wanted to have a discussion on 'more substantive issues' and suggested that the decision of uniform and badges should be taken by the officers of armed forces.
However, Javadekar slammed Rahul Gandhi for moving out of the meeting, saying that it is an insult to all parliamentary procedures and constitutional institutions, as it was a Standing Committee meet, 'not a protest site'.
When asked about the matter, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, "I'm extremely proud of the fact that Rahul Gandhi chose to walk out of the Defence Parliamentary Committee meeting. At a time when China has occupied our territory, our Standing Committee should be discussing national security, instead of wasting an hour and a half in discussing uniform and half badges."
"These issues are best left to the Armed Forces. They are fully equipped to decide what sort of uniform and badges do they need. The Parliamentarians should discuss the national security," she added.
Earlier, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri also hit out at Rahul Gandhi on Twitter, saying that he was engaging in 'antics' instead of observing solemnity of the occasion of Vijay Diwas.
"My piece of advice to the Ministers who are in power that your job should be to create the right policy and implement it, rather than trolling on Twitter or other social media platforms," Supriya Shrinate replied.
