Rahul regrets Speaker's Emergency talk

After the meeting in the Parliament House, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal told the media that it was a courtesy call. "The Speaker declared Gandhi as the Leader of the Opposition and after that, he and other I.N.D.I.A. bloc partner leaders met the Speaker," he said.

Asked whether Gandhi discussed the issue of the Emergency being raised in the House, Venugopal said, "We discussed many things about Parliament functioning. Of course, the issue also came up... Rahul Ji, as the Leader of the Opposition, informed the Speaker about this issue and said it could have been avoided in the Speaker's reference. That is clearly a political reference; it could have been avoided," the Congress leader said.

Venugopal also wrote to Birla, expressing the Congress' displeasure over the bringing of the resolution on the Emergency as his first task after assuming office. ”I am writing this in the context of a grave matter impacting the credibility of the institution of Parliament. On June 26, at the time of offering felicitations on your election as the Speaker of Lok Sabha, there was a general camaraderie in the House as such occasions generate," he wrote in his letter to the Speaker.

"However, what followed thereafter, which is a reference from the Chair after your acceptance speech, in regard to the declaration of the Emergency half a century ago, is deeply shocking. Making such a political reference from the Chair is unprecedented in the annals. This coming from the Chair as one of the 'first duties' of a newly elected Speaker assumes even graver proportions. I, on behalf of the Indian National Congress, express our profound concern and anguish over this travesty of Parliamentary traditions," he wrote.