Congress leader K.C. Venugopal hits out at ‘substantive motion’ notice against Rahul Gandhi

Dismissing BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s move to initiate a “substantive motion” against Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal on Thursday (February 12, 2026) said the party was not intimidated by such steps.

“We are not bothered about any privilege or substantive motions. If you want to hang us, we are ready for that also,” Mr. Venugopal told reporters in the Parliament complex.

His remarks came after Mr. Dubey told reporters in the Parliament complex that he had submitted a notice to initiate a substantive motion against Mr. Gandhi to cancel his membership of the House.

Mr. Venugopal linked the development to what Mr. Gandhi had said in the Lok Sabha during the Budget discussion on Wednesday, much of which has been expunged.

‘Double standards’

On the expunction of Mr. Gandhi’s remarks, Mr. Venugopal accused the government of exerting pressure on the Chair and adopting “double standards”.

He said “this is why” the Congress had to take an “extreme position” of submitting a notice for the removal of the Speaker.

“We have been continuously complaining that we are not getting justice from the Chair. The government is pressurising the Chair to not give any chance to the LoP or other leaders of Opposition parties,” said the Congress MP from Kerala’s Alappuzha.

“Whatever Rahul ji said was completely expunged, while similar remarks by the Finance Minister were retained. This is double standard of the government and this Parliament is running for the government, not for the Opposition,” he added.

Reacting to reports that the ruling alliance members will bring a privilege motion against Mr. Gandhi, he said the Opposition leader has not violated any privilege.

“Which privilege has Rahul Gandhi broken? What happened last time? They removed his membership last time. What happened afterwards was that people ensured his victory with more votes than Modi ji,” he said.