Debate on President’s Address Starts Today; Rahul Gandhi To Be First Speaker, Likely To Raise Pegasus, China, LAC

The debate on the motion of thanks will start in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Wednesday and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply to it.

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be the first leader from the Opposition to reply to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. According to reports, Harish Dviwedi of the BJP will move the motion of thanks in Lok Sabha.  Both the houses have allotted 12 hours for the debate, according to news agency ANI. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to reply to the debate in the Lok Sabha on February 7 and Rajya Sabha on February 8, ANI further reported.

According to reports, the Congress leader is likely to raise the issues of Pegasus, China and LAC during the debate as the party is up against the alleged snooping by the government. Gandhi has also criticized the Union Budget presented on Tuesday. He said that its a zero-sum budget by the Union Government.

Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “M0di G0vernment’s Zer0 Sum Budget!” In his tweet, Rahul Gandhi deliberately put the figure ‘zero’ instead of the letter ‘O’, criticising the Budget in totality.

He said, “Nothing for the Salaried class, Middle class, The poor & deprived, Youth, Farmers and MSMEs.”

M0di G0vernment’s Zer0 Sum Budget!

Nothing for
– Salaried class
– Middle class
– The poor & deprived
– Youth
– Farmers
– MSMEs

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 1, 2022

The Congress had raised concern on the Presidential address to the joint session of parliament and said that the President did not mention China and Pakistan, the two fronts on which India is engaged and also said that there was no mention of the killings in Nagaland.

In his 50-minute address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session on Monday, President Ram Nath Kovind said his government’s policies have given top priority to the poor and marginalised sections of the society.

He also highlighted the Covid response, record procurement of farm produce and improvement in internal security as “collective achievements” of the billion-plus citizens of the country.