The Karnataka Congress general secretary S. Manohar said that the Bharatiya Janata Party MP Pratap Simha gave free passes to the two intruders who were seen opening gas canisters in the Lok Sabha yesterday.
Alleging that yesterday’s intrusion in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday was intentionally done by the Bharatiya Janata Party in order to harm the opposition members, the Karnataka Congress party protested at the Congress Bhawan here in Bangalore on Thursday, Dec 14, demanding the Central government be held responsible for the breach in security at the Parliament on Wednesday.
Karnataka Congress spokesperson Anand said, “The security breach was surely intentional. Opposition leaders were present in the house but Amit Shah and Narendra Modi were not inside. What does this suggest?”
“When the government is unable to keep the Parliament and the MPs safe, how are they going to keep the ‘aam aadmi’ or the common man safe?” he added. He alleged that the Bharatiya Jananta Party had planned to harm the opposition through this event. He insinuated that the attackers wanted to harm Rahul Gandhi who was present in the parliament then.
S. Manohar, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC)secretary demanded the arrest of BJP MP Pratap Simha and said that until the enquiry of the incident is completed, he should resign on moral grounds.
Holding placards which read “BJP MP Pratap Simha, who gave permission to enter the Parliament house, should be arrested immediately.” The protesters burned the posters and shouted “shame on BJP MP Pratap Simha. Pratap Simha must be arrested.”
The Karnataka Congress secretary S. Manohar, while addressing the media said, “The BJP is filled with fake patriots. We demand the Central government to take responsibility of the incident and address the parliament. Those responsible must resign.”
He also targeted the central government, asking why they are not arresting Pratap Simha. “They have arrested so many people in the recent past for petty reasons, why are they not arresting the MP?” he questioned.
The protesters were then arrested by the police and taken to Cubbon Park Police Station.
The Congress Party has been asking Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister-Narendra Modi to address the Parliament on the issue.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, while addressing the media outside the Parliament building in Delhi said, “If you can smuggle in the smoke canisters, then you can easily smuggle in something far more serious. The issue is the security lapses. The government is accountable because they are responsible for the entire change (Parliament building), so we must hear from the government.”
Following the incident, Lok Sabha secretariat suspended eight personnel for dereliction of duty. Four people have been arrested in the case so far.
Pratap Simha is a Member of Parliament from Mysuru in Karnataka and according to police, one of the intruders in yesterday’s Lok Sabha intrusion is a Mysuru-based engineer Manoranjan D.
According to a news report by the Press Trust of India, Manoranjan D got parliament passes on the pretext of watching the new Parliament. Three passes were issued at the behest of Pratap Simha on Wednesday.
According to a news report, Pratap Simha’s office defended him saying MPs generally entertain such requests from members of their constituency.
