Was forced to go to the Well to get chairman's attention, says Kharge

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday, 28 June, said he was forced to step in the Well of the House as chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar did not allow him an opportunity to speak even as he raised his hand for a long time.

Blaming the Rajya Sabha chairman for the incident, Kharge said that he went to the Well to get his attention.

The remarks came as in a rare occurrence, Kharge, the Congress president, stepped in the Well of the House along with other opposition MPs as they were demanding a discussion on the NEET issue.

Kharge told reporters outside Parliament that he raised his hand for a long time and waited for the chairman to notice him, but his focus was on the treasury benches.

He said that he was forced to go the the Well to get the chairman's attention and accused him of disrespecting the MPs.

Kharge also said that the opposition wanted to raise the NEET issue as it affects lakhs of students, and did not want to disrupt the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the president's address.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took to X and said that Kharge was not the first leader of opposition to step in the Well of the House.

"It is being propagated that Mallikarjun Kharge ji is the first leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha to enter the Well of the House in protest. Memories are short, especially when old rivals become new partners," Ramesh said.

"On 5 August 2019, the then leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad sat on the steps leading to the chairman's presiding seat - which is very much part of the Well. This was when the Bills to abolish Article 370 and downgrade the status of J&K from a full-fledged state to a UT were being introduced," he said.

Dhankhar on Friday expressed anguish over Kharge trooping into the Well of the House during an opposition protest, saying it is for the first time that a person occupying the post has engaged in such conduct.

On Friday, the House witnessed three adjournments due to protests and sloganeering by the opposition.