Rahul Gandhi roaming in jungles during Parliament session: Punjab CM takes dig at its INDIA bloc partner

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday took a dig at its INDIA bloc ally Congress and said Rahul Gandhi was busy with his yatra in Chhattisgarh when the budget session of the Parliament was going on. 

The debate started on Monday when the Punjab Assembly witnessed unruly scenes after Mann handed over "a lock and key" to the Speaker, asking him to lock the Opposition inside the House so that they don't walk out during a discussion.

Mann slammed opposition MLAs for disruption of the Governor's address on the opening day of the Budget session on March 1 and demanded a discussion in the House.

During his speech in the state assembly, Mann said he had brought the padlock “symbolically”, “in the wake of opposition’s conduct for the past two years.” He added that he had brought another padlock, which he took out from his pocket, for legislators of AAP as well in case they wanted to go out.

He noted that he remained present in Lok Sabha when he was an MP and didn't escape. He targeted Rahul Gandhi for being absent during the recent Budget session. 

“He goes by the name of Rahul Gandhi. He has no post in the party. At the time of last session and when the Prime Minister have to speak..their (Congress’s) main speaker is roaming around in jungles of Chhattisgarh…Don’t know what is this kind of yatra..One should come to people..”

He further said the "Congress, which ruled the country for 60 years, "neither had any MLA nor MP from 2015 to 2020". "They became arrogant when they ruled Delhi for 15 years," he said.

"Now they are pleading for giving two to three seats (seat-sharing in Delhi) and asking us to take seats in Gujarat," he said. 

He further said: "Who does Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi sit with? With me. Have you ever sat with them? On the one hand, you are making agreements (on seat sharing) with us. Go and tell them (Sonia and Rahul Gandhi) not to give Kurukshetra, Delhi and Gujarat (Lok Sabha) seats for us."

AAP and Congress agreed to a seat-sharing alliance in the INDIA bloc last month. But decided not to collaborate in Punjab for the Lok Sabha elections. Both parties agreed to jointly contest from Delhi, Haryana, Goa, Punjab and Gujarat.

Last month, Congress leader Mukul Wasnik said that the AAP will contest four of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, two of the 26 seats in Gujarat, and one of the 10 seats in Haryana, while Congress will contest the rest of the seats in these states. Both the Lok Sabha seats of Goa and the one seat of Chandigarh will be contested by the Congress in alliance with the AAP, the Congress leader said.

In Gujarat, the Congress will contest 24 Lok Sabha seats while the AAP will contest two – Bharuch and Bhavnagar – and in Haryana, the Congress will contest nine out of the 10 seats while AAP will contest the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seat.

The Lok Sabha polls are expected to be held in April-May this year. 

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