New Delhi, March 11 Former law minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday that the resolution to remove the Speaker of the Lok Sabha should not be used as a tool to "satisfy the ego" of a leader.
Participating in the debate in the Lok Sabha on an opposition resolution to remove Om Birla as the Speaker, Prasad said it is regrettable that the House is discussing such an issue, as the move is a "result of a leader's ego".
He also cited constitutional provisions to counter the opposition's claim that the panel of chairpersons cannot run the House when the resolution for the removal of the Speaker is being discussed. "The problem is that they (the opposition) won't understand."
Quoting 'Practice and Procedure of Parliament', Prasad said the leader of the opposition should carefully consider his words, especially on issues of national security.
This led to uproar by opposition members.
Later, Dilip Saikia, who was chairing the proceedings, allowed Rahul Gandhi to respond to the allegation.
The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha said he had been stopped from speaking in the House on multiple occasions.
Responding to allegations leveled by BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad, who cited Parliamentary procedures to claim that the Leader of the Opposition should carefully consider his words, especially on issues of national security, Gandhi said that the House does not belong to any party but the entire country.
"Whenever we try to speak, we are stopped... The Lok Sabha does not represent one party but the entire country," he said.
Resuming his speech, Prasad alleged that Gandhi had travelled to various countries where he had mocked Parliament, the Constitution, and the Election Commission. The Congress had won several elections in the past but was now targeting these very institutions, he claimed.