Have right to respond in Parliament: Rahul

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has asserted that he has the right to respond in Parliament to the "totally baseless" and "unfair charges" hurled at him by senior ministers in the Lok Sabha over his democracy remarks. In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Gandhi invoked Rule 357 which allows for "personal explanations" and also cited the example of BJP MP and then minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who invoked the Rule to give an explanation regarding comments made by JyotiradityaScindia in relation to him in Parliament "I am making such a request again. I am seeking this permission under the conventions of Parliamentary practice, the constitutionally embedded rules of natural justice and Rule 357 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha," he said in his letter to the Speaker.

The BJP dubbed Rahul as the "present-day Mir Jafar of Indian polity" who went overseas seeking help from foreign forces to become a 'nawab' in India. Stepping up its attack on the Congress leader over his democracy in danger remark in London, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra reiterated the demand for an apology. "It would not be an aberration to say that Rahul Gandhi is a present-day Mir Jafar of Indian polity.