Say it’s ‘kursi bachao’ exercise but don’t criticise some states for budget sops: Rahul to Congress MPs

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday asked his party colleagues in Lok Sabha to depict the Union Budget as a “kursi bachao” exercise during debate but warned against criticising sops for a particular state while highlighting “discrimination” to theirs.

Rahul’s “strict” instruction to 20 Congress MPs, who are chosen to speak in Lok Sabha during the general discussion on Budget over the next few days, came at a meeting he called to streamline the party’s debating points.

He reminded them that they are a national party and not a regional party and their speeches should have a common thread.

As Parliament got ready to start discussion on the budget, Rahul asked party floor managers about the preparation for the debate and the list of MPs who would be representing the party. It was then he said he would meet them to understand their plan of action and modify it, if needed.

“We are a national party and not a regional party and cannot pit one state against another,” Rahul is quoted as saying at the meeting, which sources described as a unique and first-of-its-kind exercise in the party’s Parliamentary history.

Rahul’s remarks came after MPs briefed him about their debating points, with some telling him that they would be raising the projects allocated for states like Andhra and Bihar. “Don’t say this state got this and you did not. You stick to what your state did not get,” an MP summarised Rahul’s thoughts.

While acknowledging the need to highlight their states’ issues, Rahul wanted Congress MPs also talk about the larger narrative and insisted that they should project that the Modi government is “weak” and the union budget was a “kursi bachao” exercise.

They were also asked to speak about unemployment, price rise and the Agnipath scheme among other things.

Sources said there had been complaints earlier about choice of speakers and some MPs claiming that they were not given the opportunity to speak on budget. Keeping this in mind, Rahul asked floor managers to prepare a list which also has “new faces” who could hold the floor for four hours allocated to Congress effectively.

While Kumari Selja opened the general discussion on budget, Congress will be fielding Shashi Tharoor, Praniti Shinde, Karti P Chidambaram and Hibi Eden among others for the debate in the next few days.

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