Rajya Sabha witnessed some stormy scenes on Monday when Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge lost his temper and lambasted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Neeraj Shekhar for interrupting him during his speech. Kharge was participating in a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in the Upper House. A heated exchange ensued when the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Kharge, was slamming the BJP-led dispensation over a host of issues, including the fall of the rupee against the US dollar, when Shekhar interrupted him.
“In 2013, Narendra Modi, who was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat, had said the rupee was in the ICU [Intensive Care Unit] when it was around 60 to a dollar. Now, the dollar has crossed Rs 87,” he said.
As Kharge was speaking, Neeraj Shekhar, son of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, cut him off. This prompted an irate reaction from Kharge, who fired back: “Your father also was with me here. What are you talking about? Sit down! (Tera baap bhi idhar mere sath tha. Tu kya baat karta hai. Chup baith.)” Kharge’s outburst at Shekhar has evoked strong criticism from BJP members and swiftly went viral on social media.
‘Thousands Died In Maha Kumbh Stampede’
Kharge was the latest to join the opposition members, who have vehemently expressed that the government is ‘hiding’ the casualties in the Maha Kumbh stampede. Kharge further said that “thousands of people lost their lives during the stampede, and the government should declare the actual number of dead.”
“I pay my tributes to the people who died in Maha Kumbh… the thousands who died in Kumbh,” news agency PTI quoted Kharge as saying, which led to protests by the ruling members.
