Rahul Gandhi a 'failed LoP’, says Union Minister Piyush Goyal

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday sharply criticised Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi describing him as a ldquofailed LoPrdquo and alleging that the Congress has become ldquodirectionlessrdquo under his leadershipGoyal also targeted the Congressled Opposition alliance for repeatedly disrupting the proceedings of the House after bringing a noconfidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla reported news agency IANSHe questioned the Oppositionrsquos conduct particularly its demand for a discussion on the West Asia conflict at a time when a debate on the noconfidence motion against the Speaker had already been scheduledPiyush Goyal slams Congress for avoiding debate says party has no respect for ConstitutionldquoIt is very unfortunate that the Indian National Congress is running away from the debate At the insistence of Congress the notice against the Speaker was admitted After discussing it with them it was decided that it would be discussed today However they brought another motionrdquo Goyal told reporters while speaking on the developments in the ParliamentThe Union Minister further alleged that the Congress party neither understands parliamentary procedures nor respects constitutional normsldquoThe Congress party neither understands any parliamentary procedure nor do they respect the Constitutionrdquo Goyal said while criticising the partyrsquos approach inside the HouseHe also claimed that since Rahul Gandhi assumed the position of LoP in the Lok Sabha the functioning of Parliament has been repeatedly disrupted due to what he described as preplanned tactics by the CongressRahul Gandhi a failed LoP Congress directionless GoyalldquoSince Rahul Gandhi became the Leader of Opposition he has lost all desire to run Parliament He comes with a preplanned strategy Bringing placards disturbing the proceedings wasting Parliamentrsquos time on baseless topics etcrdquo Goyal saidThe minister further alleged that members of the Oppositionrsquos INDIA bloc were attempting to avoid the debate and suggested that there were signs of internal differences within the allianceldquoRahul Gandhi is a failed LoP He neither understands the Constitution nor is he interested in understanding the parliamentary process procedure or rulebook The way he works makes it clear that Congress is a directionless completely failed Opposition party I believe his allies the DMK and TMC have understood this and that is why they abandoned Congress in todayrsquos debaterdquo he addedBJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad also criticised the Congress while speaking to reporters accusing the party of undermining parliamentary norms and turning the proceedings of Parliament into what he described as a spectacleCongress turning Parliament into a joke Ravi Shankar PrasadldquoThe Congress thinks it can turn Parliament into a joke There are no rules no propriety no standards being followed You have brought a noconfidence motion against the Speaker which is a very rare occurrence The Speaker maintaining full dignity of the post even accepted an urgent proposal despite there being no legal requirement to do so and yet he is not presiding over the Houserdquo Prasad saidHe also stated that the ruling party was prepared for a discussion but accused the Congress of leaving Parliament and avoiding the debateldquoWe are ready for a debate but they have left the Parliament and are not ready to hold any discussion Under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi Congress does not care about the Constitution the parliamentary tradition or procedurerdquo he saidBJP MP Dinesh Sharma also weighed in on the issue and spoke about the Lok Sabha Speaker saying he has long upheld parliamentary traditionsldquoIt is my great honour that Om Birla and I have worked together in the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party He is someone who believes in and follows parliamentary traditionsrdquo Sharma saidHe further alleged that the motion brought by the Opposition was aimed at diverting attention from meaningful discussions in the HouseldquoThe motion has been brought to distract the House from a productive discussion They just want to waste timerdquo he addedWith inputs from IANS