Rahul broke protocol: Rajnath Singh
Mr Rahul has been out on six foreign visits for 72 days.
New Delhi: Congress MPs protested vociferously in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday over the stone pelting on party vice-president Rahul Gandhi even as home minister Rajnath Singh hit back saying Mr Gandhi violated the security protocol laid down by Special Protection Guards’ (SPG) himself.
The Congress uproar prevented the Lower House from conducting regular proceedings with the first adjournment at 11:30 am before being adjourned for the day at 12:20 pm.
Stating that stone pelting either on politicians or security forces was not acceptable, the home minister said, “Rahul got down from the car in violation of the security protocol. He stopped at places where there was no pre-scheduled programme.”
On Friday, during Mr Gandhi’s tour of the flood-hit Dhanera town in Banaskantha, Gujarat, a crowd pelted stones on his car, slightly injuring a SPG personnel.
Reeling out figures, Mr Singh said in last two years, Mr Gandhi carried out 121 planned and unplanned tours, and did not use the bulletproof car on 100 occasions as mandated by the SPG security protocol. In the last two years, Mr Rahul has been out on six foreign visits for 72 days. He did not take along his SPG cover, Mr Singh added.