Sonia 'battle ready' with papers to aid oppn attack on Trump issue

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi may not have spoken in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday as the opposition attacked the government over US President Donald Trump's remark on Kashmir but was 'battle ready' with a folder of papers to aid her colleagues.

Gandhi pulled out what appeared to be a transcript of Trump's comment -- that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him to mediate in resolving the Kashmir issue -- from the folder when Congress MP Manish Tewari was speaking.

As Tewari, who was leading the Congress charge, began speaking during Zero Hour, Gandhi took out a bunch of papers from a plastic folder and wordlessly handed him some sheets.

Tewari started quoting from Trump's comment, made during a meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in Washington on Monday, and said the claim was serious in nature and Modi should personally clarify on the issue.

When he was done, the paper was returned to Gandhi, who could be seen neatly putting it back in the folder.

TMC's Saugata Roy and DMK's T R Baalu echoed the Congress' demand for a clarification by Modi.

The government has rejected Trump's claim that he was asked by Modi to mediate in the issue. The Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement on Monday. This was followed up by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's statements in both houses of Parliament on Tuesday.