Javadekar slams Rahul Gandhi for walking out of Parliamentary defence committee meet

A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other party MPs staged a walkout from the meeting of the parliamentary committee on Defence, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday slammed Gandhi for his attitude and said that Standing Committee isn't a protest site.

"Maybe he is unaware of the thing that sessions are also conducted to decide the agendas, he was absent during that session. Fourteen sessions have been held in the last one and a half years, during which he was absent in twelve. He doesn't attend the session and later blames the BJP government and all procedure," said Javadekar.

"How much respect does he have for constitutional institutions? He walked out as if it is a centre for protest. There is no place in the Standing Committee to give a speech for protest. Rahul Gandhi must learn to respect constitutional institutions," he added.

Gandhi and other party MPs on Wednesday staged a walkout from the meeting of the parliamentary committee on defence alleging that parliament panel's time was being wasted in discussing uniform of armed forces instead of how to better equip them, sources said.

The agenda of the meeting was a briefing by the representatives of the Ministry of Defence on 'An introduction to the rank structure of the defence forces including their uniforms, stars and badges' and 'Review of working of cantonment boards'.

Sources said the chairman of the standing committee Jual Oram and BJP members wanted a discussion on the agenda of the meeting but were opposed by Rahul Gandhi and Congress MPs Rajeev Satav and Revanth Reddy besides and Shivsena MP Sanjay Raut.

Sources said Gandhi sought to raise the tensions with China in eastern Ladakh and better equipping the soldiers on the border. He and other Congress MPs are learnt to have said that the matters of uniform should be left to the defence personnel.

The sources said Raut and Satav also sought to raise the border tensions with China and demanded a discussion on it.

( With inputs from ANI )