Suresh Prabhu calls panel political, irks Rahul

TNN | Apr 22, 2015, 

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi's engagement in Parliament resulted in a clash between the opposition and treasury benches when he took objection to railway minister Suresh Prabhu's remark describing a standing panel's report as 'political' on Tuesday.

Congress members were on their feet the moment Prabhu mentioned the standing committee's report, referred to by MPs in their speeches to question the claims of the ministry, and referred to a recommendation as having been made "in a political way".

Soon after the minister mentioned the word 'political' to debunk the standing committee's report, Rahul asked for the rule book. He wanted to check if a minister could dismiss a parliamentary report as 'political'. He apparently found the rule disallowing such a mention and asked fellow MPs to raise the objection. Soon, NK Premachandran, Deepender Hooda and KC Venugopal were locked in a confrontation with the chair. Prabhu rejected the charge.

Rahul's proactive engagement followed three hectic days of politics, starting with farmers' rally and a blistering speech on agrarian crisis.

When the chair disallowed Congress objection, a dissatisfied Rahul urged party leader in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjuna Kharge, to flag the point, resulting in a prolonged stand-off with the treasury benches.