The government and opposition engaged in a verbal war over the move to rename Raj Bhavan as Lok Bhavan, with Nadda lashing out at a TMC MP.

New Delhi: During the Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, a fierce verbal war broke out between the ruling party and the opposition over the decision to rename Raj Bhavans as Lok Bhavans. After the House began proceedings, Trinamool Congress MP Dola Sen raised the issue of the Union Home Ministry’s November 25 directive, which mandated renaming all Raj Bhavans as Lok Bhavans.

During the Rajya Sabha debate, Sen said, “First of all, we would like to say that neither Parliament, the Legislative Assembly, nor the Cabinet is aware of this. They are not even discussing this with you, Sir.” However, things became tense when Sen began raising other issues, including MNREGA, prompting the Chairman to intervene, stating that off-topic comments would not be recorded.

Leader of the House Jagat Prakash Nadda objected to the TMC MP’s digression. He said, “You allowed him to speak on the issue of renaming Raj Bhavan to Lok Bhavan during Zero Hour. He spoke on MNREGA and other issues. I want to make it clear that this is not relevant to the topic, so it should be removed and only issues related to Lok Bhavan should be accepted.”

Chairman CP Radhakrishnan agreed with Nadda and reiterated that “nothing off-topic will go on record.” Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge stood up in support of TMC MP Sen, saying, “He did not say anything inappropriate. Everything is relevant to the topic. And he raised this issue only after your office investigated.”