PM Modi should say sorry, or won’t let him speak in House, says Congress

Having wallked out of Rajya Sabha in protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks against his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, the Congress on Wednesday threatened that it will not let the Prime Minister to speak in the House unless he apologises for using “ugly” and “unacceptable” language against a former PM. Sources said the party will raise the issue in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday – the last day of the first part of the Budget Session, which could derail the scheduled discussion on Budget. Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said Modi is behaving in an “extremely arrogant and insulting manner” towards the entire Opposition.

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said: “He doesn’t come to the House to listen to anyone from the Opposition speak. Today,



he was scheduled to come at 5 pm, but he deliberately did not come. He came to the House only after the last speaker of the Opposition had concluded. And then he begins his speech. Within minutes of his speech, he attacks the former Prime Minister in the most unacceptable manner.”

“This is an insult of the House. It is arrogance,” former Union minister Kapil Sibal said. “We have not seen such arrogance by a Prime Minister.” Taking on Manmohan Singh, who had in the previous session called demonetisation an “organised loot” and “legalised plunder”, Modi on Wednesday said that the “art of bathing in a bathroom with a raincoat on” is known only to the former PM, as there is “no blot on him” despite “all the scams” in two terms of the UPA.