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Goa Opposition boycotts Om Birla’s address to Assembly

Opposition parties in Goa, including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on Thursday boycotted Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s address to the State Assembly with the Congress questioning why Birla was not giving a chance to party leader Rahul Gandhi to represent himself over his disqualification in a defamation case.

Birla, on a day-long visit to the western coastal State, addressed a special session of the Assembly on the theme ‘Viksit Bharat 2047: Role of Public Representatives’. Goa Chief Minister and BJP leader Pramod Sawant, Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar and other members of the ruling BJP were present.

However, the Opposition parties led by the Congress united to boycott the programme. These included the AAP, the Vijai Sardesai-led Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the Revolutionary Goans (RG) party.

Congressman and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Yuri Alemao said they protested against Birla for not giving Gandhi a hearing in a 2019 criminal defamation case over the Congressman’s ‘Modi’ surname remark during an election campaign rally in Karnataka at the time of the general election that year.

“The Lok Sabha Speaker has failed to give a hearing to our leader Rahul Gandhi. We condemn this dictatorship [on part of the BJP]. So, the entire Opposition decided to boycott the function,” said Alemao, speaking to reporters on the Assembly premises.

Gandhi, the former MP from Wayanad in Kerala, had spoken of economic offenders Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi while invoking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name in the same breath.

“Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi…how come they all have Modi as common surname? How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” the former Congress MP had asked at the 2019 campaign rally.

Meanwhile, in his address to the Goa Assembly, Birla pointedly criticised the Opposition boycott, remarking that dialogue in legislatures and their proceedings ought to be conducted “with decorum upholding the dignity of the House.”