Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's yet another gaffe

Aug 14, 2012, 21:32PM



New Delhi: Within a fortnight of taking over as Home Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde was again at the receiving end in Parliament on Tuesday, thanks to yet another gaffe involving him.

Shinde was found looking for a written statement he had to make in the Rajya Sabha on a Calling Attention Motion on Inadequate Facilities and Safety Measures along the Amarnath Yatra route.

"I was told that after the Calling Attention Motion, a written reply is given. Today it has not come," he told the House drawing angry protests from Opposition BJP which had piloted the motion.

He, however, said he was prepared for a discussion.

Deputy Leader of BJP Ravishankar Prasad said a notice in this regard was given days back and the minister should have come prepared.

Soon, the minister was provided with the written statement and he began to read it.

But another BJP member Najma Heptulla pointed out that members have not been given copies of the statement.

"We should get the copy both in Hindi and English before the minister reads it out. First of all the minister did not receive the statement, then the members have not received it," she said, supported by fellow party members.

PJ Kurien, who was in the chair, also said the point raised by the opposition members is "valid" and that the statement should have been circulated in advance.

Prasad said, "First he (Shinde) did not have a copy. Now we do not have a copy. The government is treating the issue in a casual manner."

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla sought cooperation from the opposition members, assuring them that the statement would be circulated in a few minutes. He also conceded that the point raised by Prasad is valid.

However, opposition members were unrelenting.

The matter was finally put to rest when Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley got up to say that since circulation of the minister's statement will take some time, the members may be allowed to raise the issue of Mumbai violence, a suggestion the chair immediately accepted.

This is the third time since Shinde became the home minister that he got himself in a difficult situation in Parliament.

In his first intervention on the situation in Assam on the opening day of the current Monsoon Session on August 8, Shinde was at odds and made certain remarks which attracted criticism.

On the next day, Shinde was forced to apologise in the Rajya Sabha after he virtually taunted actress-turned Samajwadi Party member Jaya Bachchan while she was making a point on the Assam situation.

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