Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi traded barbs inside Parliament as the Congress MP challenged the minister to debate with him on his three press conferences in which he alleged vote chori. With Amit Shah attacking the Congress and the Opposition while participating in a debate on election reforms, Rahul Gandhi hit back and challenged Amit Shah to counter his arguments.
Rahul Gandhi said, “I had asked a question yesterday. For the first time in India’s history, decision was taken that election commissioners will be given full immunity. He (Shah) must tell us the thinking behind this. He talked of Haryana, he gave one example but there are numerous examples (of vote chori).”
“Let us have a debate on my press conference. Amit Shah ji, I challenge you to have a debate on the three press conferences.”
The home minister shot back at Rahul Gandhi saying, “Parliament won’t function as per your wish. I’ll decide my order of speech.”
Leaving Parliament, Rahul Gandhi said Amit Shah did not answer his question, but was “defensive”.
“He did not answer our questions. It was a completely defensive response. I said that a transparent voter list should be given, but he did not answer this. I said EVM’s architecture should be provided to all, but he did not say anything about it. I said that BJP leaders are voting in Haryana and Bihar, but he did not say anything about that. He did not say anything about the CJI. Election Commissioner is given full immunity… We are not scared,” Rahul Gandhi said.
Amit Shah blamed the Opposition for creating a ruckus in Parliament for the first two days, which sent a message that the government does not want to discuss SIR. Amit Shah countered that Parliament is the “biggest panchayat for discussions” and the BJP-NDA never runs away from it.
“There was a logjam for the first two days over discussion on this matter. This sent the wrong message to the people that we do not want to discuss this. I would like to make it clear that the Parliament is the biggest panchayat for discussions in this country. BJP-NDA never runs away from discussions. Whatever be the subject matter, we always stand ready for discussions as per Parliament rules,” Amit Shah said.
