Congress Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh has said he is doubtful that the ‘one nation, one election’ bills will be passed in Parliament.
Talking to reporters in Madhya Pradesh’s Agar Malwa district on Saturday night, Singh also denied the allegations against Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi of “pushing and shoving” BJP MPs on Parliament premises on Thursday.
The two ‘one nation, one election’ (ONOE) bills, including one requiring an amendment in the Constitution, lay down the mechanism to hold simultaneous elections and were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday after a fiery debate.
The Lok Sabha on Friday referred the two bills on simultaneous polls to a joint committee of Parliament (JPC).
To a question on the ONOE bills, Digvijaya Singh said, “The JPC has been constituted and I don’t think that it will be passed.”
On Thursday, an FIR was registered against Rahul Gandhi at Parliament Street police station following the BJP’s complaint, accusing him of physical assault and incitement after MPs Pratap Chandra Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput were injured.
The Congress has strongly rejected the claim, alleging that BJP MPs pushed Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and “physically manhandled” Gandhi.
Asked about the accusations against Gandhi of “pushing and shoving” the BJP MPs, Singh termed them as completely false.
“This is absolutely wrong. There was pushing and shoving between BJP leaders,” the former state chief minister claimed.