vice president Rahul Gandhi was relaxed, quick to banter and showed a willingness to engage in his speech in the Lok Sabha. Rahul said that listening to the MGNREGA part of the Budget speech, he felt that P Chidamabaram, the FM during the UPA regime, was giving the speech. \"Arun Jaitley came to me and said there was nothing better than MGNREGA. I told him to tell his boss. He did not say a word and shut up. I know there is fear, Narendra Modiji is powerful. I know you people are afraid, but you should say something to him,\" he said.
Rahul largely read out from a written speech. During the 31-minute speech, he presented a critique of the Modi regime. He tried to push the Centre on the back foot, talking about what he saw as its failings on issues such as unemployment, Rohith Vemula, Kanhaiya Kumar, the Nagaland accord and Pakistan.
Arun Jaitley said, \"The (Congress-led) UPA model of governance was that if a person outside the family is the prime minister, he should be reduced to being a figurehead. Rahul Gandhi\'s views are shaped by the environment of a political party which has evolved into a \'crowd around a family\'\".
\"If Rahul Gandhi is to be believed, then (External Affairs Minister) Sushma Swaraj is not consulted on the Pakistan policy, Rajnath Singh was unaware of the Nagaland accord and, presumably, I am unaware of the budget proposals. As one evolves from a young to a middle-aged one, we certainly expect a certain level of maturity. The more I hear Shri Rahul Gandhi, the more I start wondering how much does he know - when will he know\", Jaitley added.
Arun Jaitley said, \"In the NDA it is so. The UPA (United Progressive Alliance) was quite different. The prime minister is to lead by example. The present prime minister not only works hard and involves himself in the functioning of the various departments of the government, but inspires his team to work harder than we would have normally\".
Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj countered Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi\'s claim that she did not know about Prime Minister Narendra Modi\'s meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. She said that she was well aware of the developments of the talks between the two Prime Ministers.
\"When Rahul Gandhi made this statement, I wasn\'t present there in the house. If I would had been there, I would have responded to him then & there. I reached home and heard his speech. He said that even I was unaware of Prime Minister Modi’s trip to Lahore, well let me correct the record. When Prime Minister Modi had a conversation with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he immediately called me to know my opinion,\" she said.
\"I told him that it would be an out of the box initiative and insisted him to go to Lahore. The whole country saw when I received him at the Airport and for about ten minutes, we had our conversation. I acknowledged him of the positive response of the country about his visit,\" she said.
By Premji
