Congress' Shaktisinh files breach of privilege notice against Piyush Goyal

Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil on Tuesday filed a breach of privilege notice against Piyush Goyal, Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, for allegedly violating the rules and established procedures by making allegations against a Lok Sabha member.

In his notice to the Rajya Sabha chairman under Rule 188, Gohil said Goyal violated Rule 238, which clearly states that "no allegation of a defamatory or incriminatory nature shall be made by a member against any other member or a member of the House".

As the Upper House resumed for the afternoon session after being adjourned earlier, Goyal said he had raised a serious matter in the morning regarding a senior Congress leader going abroad and stating that "democracy is in danger" in India and even sought the US and Europe to interfere in the country's affairs.

In his notice, Gohil said on March 13, Goyal raised the matter regarding some observations made by the "member of the other House".

The Congress leader argued that it is a time-honoured tradition that reference is not made in one House about a member of the other House.

"It is pertinent to note that Shri Piyush Goyal repeatedly spoke about (an) hon'ble Member of the Lok Sabha and kept on stating facts which were not true. Mr Goyal criticised a Member of the Lok Sabha without truth and was intentionally going on with derogatory remarks," Gohil said in his notice.

The Congress member cited several examples when the chair ruled in the past that no member can raise allegations against a member of the other House.

Gohil argued that there have been cases in the Rajya Sabha when cognizance was also taken of general statements made against a Member of Parliament in their absence.

"No opposition member has ever raised issue regarding critical remarks made by Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi on foreign soil," the Congress MP said, citing examples of the prime minister's remarks in Shanghai, South Korea and Canada.