New Delhi, Feb 7 (IANS) Denying that he tried to snatch a paper from Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan’s hand in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Congress MP Manickam Tagore claimed that he was instead “manhandled” by BJP lawmakers when he tried to tell the Minister not to politicise an issue.
Tagore courted controversy earlier in the day when he allegedly tried to snatch the paper from which Harsh Vardhan was reading to condemn Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his ‘danda’ jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This led to a scuffle between Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party lawmakers during Question Hour, leading to adjournment of the House for the day. The House was adjourned twice earlier in the day as well.
While BJP MPs accused Tagore of attacking Harsh Vardhan, Congress members accused them of manhandling their MP colleague who represents Virudhunagar constituency in Tamil Nadu.
Speaking to IANS inside the Parliament complex after the Lok Sabha’s adjournment for the day, Tagore said: “It’s a baseless allegation. The Minister was talking about Delhi and the question was related to the Wayanad medical colleges. He (Harsh Vardhan) was not replying to what Rahul ji had asked and was instead trying to make a political issue. I ran to stop it. I went and asked the Minister not to behave like this… I was manhandled (by BJP MPs) and the House was then adjourned.”
“We were agitating as per the rules and demanding that wrong things should not be done in the House.”
The uproar started soon after Rahul Gandhi put a question to the Health Minister during Question Hour pertaining to medical colleges in the Congress leader’s Wayanad parliamentary constituency in Kerala.
–IANS
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