HUM DO, HAMARE DO: RAHUL’s JIBE AT PM

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi ridiculed PM Modi for giving the farmers the option of accepting reforms in the farm bills or follow the old way, saying he has really unfolded three options for them: Hunger, unemployment and suicide. Speaker Om Birla repeatedly interrupted him at the instance of Minister Pralhad Joshi and others to speak on the budget under discussion, but Rahul ignored him saying the PM a day earlier accused the Opposition is talking of agitation but not on intent and content of the farm laws and so he wants to focus on it. The Speaker, however, got an opportunity to pull him up when he ended his speech calling for a 2-minute silence as a homage to over 200 farmers dying on the borders of Delhi, telling the Opposition members to rise in their seats. Birla bluntly told him that the responsibility of running the House is with him and no member can take it away. Rahul went on to hit PM with a jibe of "Hum Do, Hamare Do", saying "four people run this country", but refrained from naming them, stressing instead that "everyone knows them." His reference was to Modi and Amit Shah in govt and his corporate friends Adani and Ambani.

UNION BUDGET REPLY TODAY

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is to reply to the general debate on Union Budget on Friday, first in the morning in the Rajya Sabha and then in the Lok Sabha in the evening.