Say it’s a ‘kursi bachao’ exercise but don’t criticise some states for budget blunders: Rahul to Congressmen

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday asked his party colleagues in the Lok Sabha to portray the Union Budget as an exercise in “kursi bachao” during the debate, but warned against criticising favours to a particular state while highlighting “discrimination” against that state.

Rahul’s “strict” instruction to 20 Congress MPs, who have been chosen to speak in the Lok Sabha during the general debate on the Budget in the coming days, came during a meeting he called to streamline the party’s debating points.

He reminded them that they are a national party and not a regional party and that their speeches should have a common thread.

As the parliament prepared to start the budget discussion, Rahul asked the party leaders about the preparations for the debate and the list of MPs who would represent the party. He then said that he would meet them to understand their action plan and revise it if necessary.

“We are a national party and not a regional party and cannot pit any state against another,” Rahul is reported to have said at the meeting, which sources described as a unique and first exercise in the party’s parliamentary history.

Rahul’s comments came after MPs briefed him on their debate points, with some telling him that they would raise the issues of projects allocated to states like Andhra and Bihar. “Don’t say this state got this and you didn’t. You are holding on to what your state didn’t get,” an MP summed up Rahul’s thoughts.

While Rahul acknowledged the need to highlight the problems in their states, he wanted Congress leaders to also talk about the bigger story and insisted that they must show that the Modi government is “weak” and that the Union Budget was an exercise in “kursi bachao”.

They were also asked to discuss issues including unemployment, price rises and the Agnipath plan.

Sources said that there had been complaints earlier about the choice of speakers and some MPs had alleged that they were not given a chance to speak on the budget. Keeping this in mind, Rahul asked the hall managers to prepare a list that would also include “new faces” who could effectively speak for the four hours allotted to the Congress.

While Kumari Selja opened the general discussion on the Budget, the Congress will invite Shashi Tharoor, Praniti Shinde, Karti P Chidambaram and Hibi Eden among others for the debate in the coming days.