Shashi Tharoor Slams Centre For Not Letting Rahul Gandhi Speak

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday said Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi must be allowed to put forth his concerns in the Lok Sabha and described as "absolutely bizarre" the "denial of the right to speak to one side" in the House. Tharoor, who was to initiate the discussion on the Union Budget, yielded to Gandhi to make his remarks before his speech, but both his and the LoP's microphones were cut off. The Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram wondered what the Speaker and the government wanted. "The situation is very strange. I don't know whether the Speaker or the government do not want the House to debate the Budget. Very clearly, there is a long-standing tradition of the House, of more than 70 years, that when two people ask for the floor, it is always given -- first is the LoP and the other is the minister for Parliamentary Affairs," Tharoor told reporters in the Parliament House complex after the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day.