Rahul Gandhi slams 'partial' LS speaker

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi yesterday mounted an attack apparently directed at Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, alleging the Opposition members were not being allowed to speak in Parliament.

Talking to reporters outside parliament, the Congress leader, without naming anyone, said “there is a mood in Parliament that only one man's voice comes before anything else in the country”, an apparent reference to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rahul, the 44-year-old scion of Nehru-Gandhi family, hit out at the BJP-led NDA government, accusing it of running away from discussion. “There is a mentality in the government that no discussion should be allowed.”

Earlier, Rahul joined Congress lawmakers who trooped into the Well of the House protesting against recent incidents of communal violence in Uttar Pradesh and demanded the tabling of the Communal Violence Bill in parliament.

“We are raising a point, we are asking for discussion…The speaker, I mean…It is completely one-sided, partiality,” Gandhi said. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan turned down the Congress request.