'Why didn't he speak...': BJP takes a dig at Rahul Gandhi on no-trust debate

A day after Rahul Gandhi had his parliament membership restored, BJP launched an attack on the Congres leader for not opening the debate on the no-confidence motion against the government on Tuesday morning (August 8).

Media reports claimed that Gandhi was all set to launch his comeback by opening the debate for the INDIA alliance against the government. However, after the session started, it was revealed that senior Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi had replaced him for the opening remarks.

When Gogoi was called by the speaker to open the debate,Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, who is also the Parliamentary Affairs minister, stood up and said he had a point to make.

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Joshi said as per his knowledge, the speaker's office received a letter at 11:55 am local time that Gandhi would be speaking in place of Gogoi.

"What happened in the space of five minutes, sir? What is the problem, sir? We are very enthusiastic to listen to Mr Rahul Gandhi," Joshi said.

The comment incensed the Congress side, with Gogoi stating, "Speaker sir, should we also reveal what's happening in your office and what requests are being received? You are the protector of this House. Should we also reveal what the Prime Minister has said in your office?"

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Despite replacing his party leader, Gogoi managed to bring full power to the House as he blasted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his silence on the Manipur issue.

"PM took a 'maun vrat' (silence fast)to not speak in the Parliament. So, we had to bring the no-confidence motion to break his silence. We have three questions for him - 1) Why did he not visit Manipur to date? 2) Why did it take almost 80 days to finally speak on Manipur and when he did speak it was just for 30 seconds? 3) Why has the CM not sacked the Manipur CM so far?" said Gogoi.

After his speech, a brief ruckus ensued in the parliament before BJP MP Nishikant Dubey got up and took another dig at Gandhi.

“Maybe Rahul Gandhi wasn’t ready today or maybe he woke late. Gaurav Gogoi spoke well," said Dubey.

Watch |Indian Supreme Court stays conviction of Rahul Gandhi in Modi surname remark case

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Gandhi's membership restored

The Lok Sabha Secretariat on Monday (August 7) restored Gandhi's membership after a city court had convicted him in a defamation case and revoked it.

"In view of orderof the Supreme Court of India, the disqualification of Shri Rahul Gandhihas ceased to operate, subject to further judicial pronouncements," read the notification released by the secretariat.

The decision by the secretariat comes daysafter the Supreme Court put on hold Gandhi's conviction in a 2019 defamation case.

(More updates to follow)

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