What was Rahul Gandhi high on: Harsimrat Kaur

Reacting to Congress president Rahul Gandhi's attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on Friday, Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal wondered what the Gandhi scion was high on.

Speaking to ANI, Harsimrat said, after witnessing all the drama, she looked towards Rahul Gandhi and his mother, Sonia Gandhi, and asked, what had the former consumed today.

"They think that Punjabis are junkies, so after witnessing his drama, I looked towards them (Rahul and Sonia Gandhi) and asked what did he take today? You have seen him for 15 years now, have you ever seen this kind of drama? Is this the earthquake he was going to bring?" Harsimrat told ANI.

She was also of the opinion that a new "comedy hero" was born in the Parliament today.

"He brought a laughter earthquake, people in Bollywood should take note that a new 'comedy hero' has taken birth today. He wants to become the Prime Minister but he will never get there, although he can get a great role in Bollywood in some film like 'Munna Bhai MBBS'. All his baseless allegations and the 'hugging' drama won't be able to save him," Harsimrat added.

On a similar note, Union Minister Smriti Irani said that Gandhi had no backing for his allegations and only had a "negative political rhetoric."

"We are all witness to the lies propagated by Rahul Gandhi today in Lok Sabha, how he was levelling allegations against the government without any facts. He had no proof but only negative political rhetoric, that itself has cost him in every election he has fought," Irani said.

She also expressed confidence in the BJP-led government that they will not only win the trust of the people, but also the trust of the house.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TNC) leader Saugata Roy launched his attack on the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and stated that the no-confidence motion was not a matter of crunching numbers and was actually a matter of principles and that the way the BJP had lost in the bye-elections in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, they will also lose in the forthcoming 2019 General Elections.

"I want to mention that Prime Minister Modi has become a travelling salesman. Without any reason, he went to West Bengal and addressed a meeting. He did not announce any new projects. He did not mention that rate of growth in the state is 12 percent, higher than any state in the country," Roy said.

"He has made 41 trips to 52 countries taking 165 days, with it costing Rs 355 crores. Not only this Rs 1018 crores were spent on aircraft maintenance, there were more costs. So the cost of his travel comes to 1800 crores." Roy added.

Roy also brought up the farmer suicide issue, saying that while Prime Minister Modi may dub his rallies as a 'kisan sankalp rally', the truth of the matter did not change thousands of farmers still commit suicide.

"Demonetisation caused us Rs 3 lakh crores in GDP growth. This is Modi's contribution to the country. BJP's economic policy has caused a disaster in the country," Roy stated.

The Narendra Modi-led Government is facing its first no-confidence motion, four years after winning the 2014 mandate as the first single-party majority in three decades.

To defeat the no-confidence motion, the BJP would require to gain a mark of 268 votes. The NDA at present counts 312 members in the 535-member Lok Sabha, including 274 members of the BJP.