By IANS
New Delhi : Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s speech in the Lok Sabha Thursday failed to impress the opposition as well as the Left parties though the Congress was full of praise for the young MP.
“Being the future prime ministerial candidate of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi should have at least raised the issues of inflation and price rise, which have left the aam admi (common man) high and dry,” V.K. Malhotra, deputy leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha, told IANS.
“Rahul read out a written speech in the house. There are only two members in the Lok Sabha who never speak extempore. One is Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the other is her son Rahul,” Malhotra added.
The Samajwadi Party’s Ramji Lal Suman said: “Rahul read out a speech prepared by the Congress. There was no focus in his speech. It went haywire, touching upon all the government schemes.”
“What further saddened me was the fact that he chose to speak in English while championing the cause of those ‘whose voice is not heard’,” Suman stressed.
Suman was referring to Gandhi’s differentiation between the haves and the have-nots, stating that the latter do not have a voice.
The Left reaction was no better. “I have not heard Rahul’s ‘reading’,” said Gurudas Dasgupta of the Communist Party of India (CPI).
“What did he speak about in the speech? If it is so (that the poor do not have a voice), why doesn’t he come forward to help the poor?” D. Raja of the CPI added.
Young Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit was, however, impressed. “It was a thought-provoking and impressive speech which should be appreciated,” he said, before hurrying off to the house.