Union Minister and senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal and TMC Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale engaged in a war of words on X as the latter shared a 'private conversation' they shared over the recent suspension spree in Parliament. Gokhale said he asked the minister why a handful of parliamentarians were still not suspended depite being part of the same protests that led to the ouster of the rest of his I.N.D.I.A collegues. To which, Gokhale claimed Goyal said it was because 'it looks bad for us' if there are zero Opposition MPs left. Gokhale also claimed that the minister said all the Opposition parliamentarians would be suspended when Home Minister Amit Shah tables the criminal bill laws in the Rajya Sabha. However, now Goyal has responded to the post and accued Gokhale of 'spreading vicious lies with obvious malafide intent'.
Gokhale in his post on X said, "I asked Piyush Goyal why the small bunch of us remaining INDIA MPs weren’t being suspended in the Rajya Sabha despite protesting in the well. Because 46 of our INDIA colleagues got instantly suspended for the same thing a day earlier. He says “Because if there’s zero Opposition MPs left, it looks bad for us.” But then he added - “Don’t worry, you’ll all be suspended before Amit Shah ji comes to Rajya Sabha to table the criminal law Bills”.
Responding to the allegation, Goyal said, "Once again, a false, mischievous piece of fake news by Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale that is now the standard operating manual of the Congress led Ghamandia Gatbandhan. It comes soon after an unprecedented insult of the Hon’ble Vice President of India by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Trinamool leader Kalyan Banerjee."
"Hardly surprising that Saket Gokhale is spreading vicious lies with obvious malafide intent. Such brazen falsehoods show the depths to which frustrated Congress and Trinamool can stoop," he added.