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Desperate Congress wants power to remain concentrated with one family: PM

The Lalit Modi controversy and Vyapam scam dominated the session, resulting in paralysis of both Houses and provoking Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to suspend 25 of the 44 Congress members for five days. If you don’t bring back Lalit Modi, if you continue to allow these people to defend Lalit Modi the way Sushma-ji did…

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Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said in the Lok Sabha during a debate said, “The way the foreign minister supported the fugitive, if we want to talk about this, we need the prime minister to speak”.

“I have disallowed it. But if everybody wants then this can be taken up”.

“We never did anything secretly, the Congress secretary facilitated Quattrocchi’s exit”, Swaraj said.

Turning her defence into a fierce offence against the Congress, Sushma Swaraj invoked the Bofors scandal that erupted when a Congress government led by Sonia Gandhi’s husband Rajiv Gandhi was in power in the 1980s when allegations of kickbacks from the swedish gun maker were raised against him.

The Congress is demanding the resignation of Sushma Swaraj over her alleged help to former Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi, who is facing investigation by the Enforcement Directorate.

Sushma Swaraj who gave her side of version on Lalit Modi row said she was not guilty. Sushma also targeted former finance minister P Chidambaram, who has been asking her questions on Lalitgate, saying his wife Nalini had become an Income Tax lawyer while he was minister and it amounted to conflict of interest.

The Modi government already has deferred until the next session of Parliament a bill to make changes to India’s land-acquisition law following the Congress party’s opposition.

From the Rajya Sabha deputy floor leader Anand Sharma said: “It is the PM ” s obduracy and arrogance which is responsible for the stalemate in Parliament. “Not a single penny was paid to my daughter for this case”, she said, referring to Lalit Modi’s successful legal battle to have his Indian passport reinstated previous year. Though it is not the first time that Rahul Gandhi has been caught with such things but recently too, he was captured sleeping in the Parliament! “Why were you so discreet about helping Lalit Modi?” “I think people have to think about what to do”.

He said his relationship with Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and her son Dushyant Singh was a family relationship that went back a long time.

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The opposition party was reacting after Modi accused Congress of “misusing” Parliament to stop the country’s growth as several important bill remained pending due to disruption of proceeding in the two Houses.

Image Credit PTI