New Delhi:
Sonia Gandhi, who has led the Congress in aggressive attacks on the government in the winter session, today requested protesting lawmakers from her party not to raise slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi while he was present in the Lok Sabha.
On the last day of the winter session, Congress lawmaker Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was in the Well or Centre of the House, when he began to shout a slogan against PM Modi. Mrs Gandhi, seated in the front of the opposition benches as usual, stopped the lawmaker and told him that while he must raise slogans against corruption, he should not name the PM.
No slogan was raised thereafter against PM Modi while he was in the house. He left for a two-day visit to Russia this afternoon.
Both PM Modi and Mrs Gandhi are members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament where the BJP-led government has a commanding majority. The Congress has only 45 Lok Sabha MPs, most of whom spent a better part of the winter session in the Well of the House protesting against PM Modi and his government.
While its smaller numbers ensured that the Lok Sabha worked through the protests, the Congress forced frequent disruptions and adjournments of the Rajya Sabha, where the main opposition party has superior numbers and the government is in a minority.
The month-long winter session saw only 57 hours of work done in the upper house; 55 hours of work were lost. While the Lok Sabha passed 11 bills, the Rajya Sabha passed only three.