New Delhi:

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday said that TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee has submitted a written apology for his remarks against Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia besides apologising in the House.

As soon as the House met, some members belonging to the ruling alliance stood up to raise the issue of the remarks made by Banerjee.

However, Birla intervened and said whatever happened on Wednesday was unfortunate and no member should make any personal remark against any fellow member.

Without taking the name of Banerjee, he said any remark against women is in bad taste and it hurts their dignity and honour.

The speaker said agreements and disagreements are part of the democratic process but no member should make any personal remark against anyone.

“The member concerned had apologised (in the House). He has also given me in writing too,” he said and started with the day’s proceedings.

On Wednesday, there were verbal clashes when Banerjee was speaking in the House during a discussion on the amendments to the Disaster Management Act.

The TMC member had alleged non-cooperation by the central government during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai countered it, saying it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who helped all the states and successfully handled the crisis by taking everyone along.

Rai also alleged that the West Bengal government tried to put hurdles in the transportation of the Covid vaccines through the state.

Scindia stood up to support Rai, saying that India had emerged as a “Vishwa Bandhu” during the pandemic and helped all the needy countries across the world.

Following this, Banerjee attacked Scindia and made certain remarks against the minister which were expunged by the Speaker after an uproar.

The verbal spat between the treasury and opposition benches led to adjournment.

When the House reconvened, Banerjee apologised for his remarks, but Scindia refused to accept it, saying the opposition members should desist from making personal attacks.

“Mr Kalyan Banerjee rose in this House and said sorry. But I will say that we all come to this House with the spirit of contributing to the nation’s development… but we also come with a sense of self-respect.

“Any individual in their lives will not stand compromising with their self-respect. Attack us on our policies, on our views, but if you will get personal, certainly be prepared for the response,” the Union minister said.

“He has apologised… I do not accept his apology for the personal attack that he had made on me and on the women of India,” he said.

Banerjee apologised again but protests from treasury benches continued leading to two more adjournments of the House. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerje’s Trinamool Congress has remained the shaky spot in the united Opposition front over the election of the Speaker. The party, which started the day with the complaint that they were not consulted about fielding a candidate, ended it by expressing its disapproval of the Congress decision and keeping the alliance on tenterhooks over its support to K Suresh.

At a meeting of the INDIA bloc at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s house on Tuesday evening, Trinamool expressed its reservation about the decision to go for a contest, sources said. On whether it would support K Suresh against the BJP candidate Om Birla, the party said they would convey their decision by 9 am today.

Sources said the party had argued that some of their members could not take oath and some Opposition MPs are in jail. So a contest at this point will only put then NDA strength on display.

The Congress’s eleventh-hour snap decision to field Mr Suresh and force a contest, had got it on the wrong side of Trinamool, which called the move “unilateral”.

Several hours and explanations later, the party thawed and attended the Opposition meet — only to express its reservations.

Ahead of the meeting, Congress’s Rahul Gandhi had spoken to Trinamool’s second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee and Mr Suresh had called the party to seek support.

The Congress said there was no time for consultation as they had decided to field a candidate just 10 minutes before the deadline. The part was irked by the BJP refusal to give the Opposition the post of the Deputy Speaker, or admit their claim to it.

This morning, the government, while seeking consensus for Om Birla, made it clear that they were not considering a Deputy Speaker post for now.

Congress’s Rahul Gandhi, who has accepted the responsibility of being the Leader of the Opposition, said, “Rajnath Singh called Mallikarjun Kharge and asked him to extend support… entire Opposition said we will support but convention is Deputy Speaker should be from our side. Rajnath Singh said he would call back… but he has not yet…PM is asking for cooperation but our leader is getting insulted.”

The Trinamool — which never had the best of relations with the Congress — had put its membership from the INDIA bloc on hold in the run-up to the polls after a dispute over seat sharing in Bengal.

After the election, they came back to the fold and today was the first day after the results, when unease crept into the alliance.

It was not Trinamool alone. Sources said after the meeting that alliance leaders had underscored that they were not informed about Sonia Gandhi’s decision to appoint her son Rahul Gandhi as the Leader of the Opposition.