‘Out of Delhi’: Congress chief Kharge replies to Dhankhar’s invite to meet today

Congress president and Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Mallikarjun Kharge, in a rebuttal to Vice President and Chairperson of the Upper House Jagdeep Dhankhar’s letter, said the mass suspension of the MPs from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha “seems to be predetermined and premeditated by the government”.

The Congress president wrote back after V-P Dhankhar invited him to discuss on range of matters in his chamber today. Kharge said he is currently out of Delhi and proposed a fresh meeting after he returns to the national capital. “While I am currently out of Delhi, it would be my privilege and indeed my duty to meet you at your earliest convenience as soon as I am back in Delhi,” he wrote.

Kharge also agreed with Dhankhar’s suggestion to move ahead amid issues following the Winter Session, and said “the answer lies in holding ourselves true to the Constitution, the Paliament, the parlimentary practices and innate belief in democracy vis-a-vis an authoritarian government that is bent upon subverting the Paliament.”

Earlier, the Rajya Sabha Chairperson expressed his dismay in a letter to Kharge and said he had to “painfully” suffer Kharge’s stance to “reject” his offer for interaction in the Chamber of the House which is “unwholesomely unprecedented” and “not in sync” with the well-established parliamentary practice. He further claimed that the disruptions caused in Parliament were “deliberate and strategised”.