Nirendra Dev
Goyal said there were 30 marshals in the Rajya Sabha at the time of the ruckus, 18 men and 12 women and all from regular Marshal staff.
New Delhi: The government on Thursday (August 12) alleged that senior opposition leaders, including top-ranking ones from Congress, had threatened the Union Ministers that there would be 'more damage' and possible stiffer confrontation if more bills were passed.
Amid high-voltage controversy and charges and counter-charges following the release of video footage showing opposition lawmakers assaulting woman Marshal Akshita Bhatt in Rajya Sabha on August 11, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said, "They threatened there would be more scenes than August 10."
On August 10, Congress member Pratap Singh Bajwa jumped on the table of House Reporters and hurled Rule Book menacingly towards the chair.
Asked who has threatened and why he is not naming them, Goyal, also Leader of Upper House, said, "The Opposition could have left decorum and niceties, we have not. None of our members misbehaved, notwithstanding all sorts of provocations."
But he went on to add, "Despite my repeated requests for a cup of tea in my room, the opposition members would not come. A few of them even said we have to talk to higher ups in our party before we sit with you."
"Then you can very well make out who has been the real ringmaster in the entire game," he said.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi also said, "Yesterday morning, we were literally threatened that if you dared to pass more bills after the passage of the OBC bill there would be more damage."
"Opposition is not able to digest the people's mandate in 2014 and 2019… Especially the Congress, they feel the chair (power) is our birthright and why Narendra Modi is sitting there," Joshi said.
Talking to a TV channel, Goyal said Congress members knew "one of them who threatened were from their party."
Minutes after video footage showed opposition women MPs, including from Congress and Trinamool Congress heckled and assaulted woman Marshal Ms Bhatt, Goyal and several other ministers addressed the media.
"A lady marshal was manhandled by opposition MPs. Opposition's behavior in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday was a new low. Opposition's approach of my way or highway is highly condemnable," Goyal said.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said, "Opposition should not shed crocodile tears on pandemonium created by them in Parliament."
“We demand that the Rajya Sabha Chairman should take stringent action against those opposition MPs who broke rules,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Joshi said.
He claimed the opposition move was 'pre-decided by the Congress and its friendly allies.
"See the mindset, video recording of House proceedings cannot be recorded, but they did so and also tweeted," Joshi said.
The video footage showed Trinamool leader Derek O' Brien making use of his mobile camera.
Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sparked controversies by saying people from outside were brought in the House to 'manhandle' opposition members.
Goyal said there were 30 marshals in the Rajya Sabha at the time of the ruckus, 18 men and 12 women and all from regular Marshal staff.
The Monsoon Session was to continue till August 13, but was cut short and adjourned on Wednesday, August 11.
The Rajya Sabha episode was condemned strongly by Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, who also broke down in the House on Wednesday while reading out a prepared statement.
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