Rahul Gandhi tried to harm Indo-China relations: Shivamogga MP B.Y. Raghavendra

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi attempted to spoil India’s relationship with China by raking up the issue of General Naravane’s book in Parliament, alleged Shivamogga Lok Sabha member B.Y. Raghavendra.

In a press conference in Shivamogga on February 7, Mr. Raghavendra stated that the Congress leader attempted to address the same topic during the debate on the President’s speech. The allegations, based on the unpublished book, were baseless. “We cannot discuss issues concerning national security in public. We do not know with what intention the army officer wrote the book. It seems Rahul Gandhi’s intention was to harm the Indo-China relationship,” he remarked.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not respond to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President for the first time in the Lok Sabha due to the conduct of opposition party members. “The Congress should take credit for this black mark on the reputation of Parliament,” he stated.

The BJP MP claimed that, as per intelligence sources, the opposition party members had planned to attack the PM in the House, which is why the PM did not deliver his reply.

Praise for Union Budget

The BJP leader termed the recent trade deals with the United States of America and the European Union as historic. The trade deals would encourage exports and also serve as an impetus to the micro, small and medium enterprises.

Mr. Raghavendra praised the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. He stated that the budget was based on the Prime Minister’s principle of building a self-reliant and economically strong India. The budget gave importance to asset creation by earmarking ₹12.2 lakh crore for infrastructure. The youth had been given special attention in the budget. The allocation of funds for the education sector had gone up, he claimed.

Karnataka would get more funds than in the previous years, as per the recommendations of the 16^th Finance Commission. “The Centre allocated ₹1.25 lakh crore for the VB-G RAM G Act. “Let us see how much the State Government will allocate for the scheme in its budget,” he stated.

MLCs D.S. Arun and Dhananjay Sarji, and district BJP president N.K. Jagadish were among those present at the press conference.