Speaker says privilege notices against Modi, Nirmala Sitharaman under her consideration

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Wednesday announced in the Lok Sabha that she had received notices for privilege motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the same are under her consideration. The notices were moved by Congress MPs over their statements on the Rafale deal.

The notices were submitted against the two leaders accusing them of allegedly misleading the House on the Rafale deal issue during the debate on the no-confidence motion on July 20.

Mahajan said five members each had submitted notices against the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister. “It (notices) is under my consideration,” she said during Zero Hour amid noisy protests from some BJP members.

The statement from the Chair came after Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Jyotiraditya Scindia raised the issue of their



notices against Modi and Sitharaman during Zero Hour.

“The Prime Minister, along with the Defence Minister, has deliberately misled the House. It is, therefore, requested that this notice of breach of privilege be accepted and referred to the privilege committee for further proceedings,” the Congress MPs have said in the notices.

Members from the BJP also wanted to speak on their notices for privilege motion against Congress President Rahul Gandhi, which they had submitted earlier.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said these members should be given an opportunity to speak.

Anurag Thakur, BJP Chief Whip in the House, alleged that Gandhi had misled the House during the no-confidence motion debate on July 20.

Mahajan said there were four notices submitted against one person (Gandhi).