'We are ready to face privilege motion': KC Venugopal defends Rahul Gandhi, slams 'Pressured' chair

Congress MP KC Venugopal on Thursday said the party was prepared to face the privilege motion against its members, asserting that the opposition would continue raising issues in Parliament despite pressures. Speaking to the reporters, Venugopal said,"We are ready to face privilege motion.The last time they tried to cancel his membership, the people gave him more votes than PM Modi got. We will continue to tell the truth in the Parliament."

He alleged that the government was influencing the Chair to deny the Opposition an opportunity to speak. "Continuously, we have been complaining that we are not getting justice from the Chair. The government is pressuring the Chair not to give the Opposition a chance to speak. I got to know what Rahul Gandhi said was expunged," he told reporters.

Yesterday, Rahul Gandhi questioned why industrialist Anil Ambani was not in jail, alleging that his name appeared in the Epstein-related files. He alleged that there was pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the India-US nuclear deal and "no PM would do what has happened in terms of "data, farmers, energy security and defence". "I have said that I will authenticate the data I have. There are Department of Justice files on Epstein files naming Hardeep Puri and Anil Ambani. In an ongoing case against Adani, summons have been issued. The government of India has not responded for the last 18 months. There is direct pressure on the Prime Minister. The main thing is that no PM would do this in a normal situation. In a normal situation, no PM would do what has happened in terms of data, farmers, energy security and defence. Someone would do this only when there is a certain grip on them," Gandhi told reporters outside Parliament.

Meanwhile, the Centre will not move a privilege motion against Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, though the words used in his speech delivered on Wednesday are likely to be expunged as the allegations made by him were not authenticated, sources said. (ANI)