Amit Shah at Karnal: Special Session on SIR if Congress Writes to PM
The offer puts the SIR dispute back on Parliament's floor if Congress takes it up, while the BJP ends its two-week campaign in Haryana.
Image: PTI
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday, 5 November, that the government is ready to call a special session of Parliament on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls if Congress formally asks for one, for example by writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at the BJP’s “Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao” rally in Karnal, Haryana, he dared Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to “face each other head-on” in the House, India TV reported.
A Debate Offer and a Warning
Shah accused Congress of disrupting Parliament and turning walkouts, protests and boycotts into routine politics. He said the BJP would answer in Parliament, in state assemblies and “on the roads”, and that party workers would give a “fitting reply” if Congress gathered crowds, India TV reported. He also used a kabaddi story to mock the opposition’s complaints about electoral institutions, saying the losing side blames the referee.
The Karnal rally was the last event of a BJP campaign that ran from 22 October to 5 November through party offices in about 600 districts, according to the same report. Neither Rahul Gandhi nor Congress had responded to the Karnal remarks in the reports reviewed.
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The Same Offer Made in Hyderabad Three Days Earlier
This is not a new offer. On 2 November, Shah said in Hyderabad that the government was ready for a special session to debate the vote-theft allegations, EVMs, SIR and what he called infiltrators on the rolls, The Week reported. That came a day after the INDIA bloc rally at Ramlila Maidan, where opposition leaders demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. IPB’s reports on that rally and on the six charges against the CEC are here, and Congress’s latest line is in Kharge’s reply to Modi. Rahul Gandhi’s coverage sits under the Rahul Gandhi tag.
Congress has so far pressed its case on the street and at press conferences. Jairam Ramesh has separately alleged that Parliament has not been prorogued 82 days after the Monsoon Session ended, which he says keeps the door open for a special session on delimitation bills.
No Letter Yet, No Date Set
No special session has been notified. By Shah’s own condition, one would follow a formal request from Congress, and the party has not said it will write to the Prime Minister.
Source: Based on reporting by India TV and The Week.
Image: PTI.
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