After Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said his February 2 address in the Upper House had been expunged in a way that its meaning has changed, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said Kharge had plenty of time during his speech to revisit the words that the BJP’s tally in the upcoming elections would be “400 paar (cross the 400-seat mark)”.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday morning, Kharge asked the Chairman to restore expunged parts of his speech on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address on February 2.
Raising the issue, Kharge said two pages from his February 2 speech were removed, and thus, the intent of his speech was distorted. He said “400 paar”, but the words after that were removed, changing the meaning.
Giving his ruling later, Dhankhar said Kharge had written to him on Monday raising the issue of a particular word as well as two pages of his address being expunged.
“I need to put on record that in his address to the House on February 2, 2024…He had asserted ‘aap ke paas toh itna bahumat hai, pehle 330, 334 seats thi, abh toh aankra 400 paar ho raha hai’. I have checked audio and video of the same. He said so on the floor of the House. This intervention was made by him at 2.36 pm…And the Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Khargeji concluded his address nearly 50 minutes thereafter, i.e. he had sufficient time to revisit his thoughts,” the chairman said.
