New Delhi: The Opposition MPs, on Thursday, alleged that they were not given enough time in the Parliament to express their condolences to Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat, his wife and other armed forces personnel who lost their lives in the chopper crash on Wednesday.
While speaking to the media, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Today it is very sad day as Bipin Rawat, his wife and other soldiers have lost their precious lives. We want to pay our condolences to them that is why we are here. Rajnath Singh ji has given a statement regarding this incident. At that time, all Opposition leaders had demanded that we should also be given time to pay our condolences. But neither govt nor the chair allowed us to do so. What kind of democracy, the government is promoting? We condemn this."
He further added, "We had also decided to suspend the protest of suspended MPs for one day as mark of respect to the deceased members. We want to convey the same in the House, but weren't allowed. It is very unfortunate that we have to take permission even to express our condolences."
Expressing his anguish, DMK MP TKS Elangovan said, "The tragic incident happened in our state. Our Chief Minister M K Stalin rushed to Nilgiris to oversee things. We are truly sympathetic towards the deceased and even suspended our protest. But this government didn't allow us to pay condolences,"
Reiterating the same, RJD MP Manoj Jha added, "Today, the ruling party has committed a grave mistake. Even on this sad day, govt didn't try to break the ice,"
Earlier today, the Opposition MPs had announced that they will suspend their protest both inside as well as outside the Parliament House to pay homage to all the soldiers who died in the chopper crash.
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