Birla had genuine concerns over PM's safety, LS sources rebut Opposition
With the opposition asserting that there was no imminent threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha last week, lower House secretariat sources on Monday said that several women MPs had moved "aggressively" towards his seat and Speaker Om Birla had genuine concerns regarding Modi's safety.
Citing the sequence of events which unfolded in the House on Wednesday, they said the speaker had "genuine and well-founded concerns regarding the safety of the prime minister" and the "maintenance of order" in the House.
Birla's advice to the prime minister not to enter the LS chamber at that juncture was guided solely by the "need to ensure the smooth functioning of parliamentary business and to safeguard the dignity and sanctity of the institution," the Lok Sabha secretariat sources said.
The assertion of the sources came hours after Congress' women Lok Sabha MPs wrote to Birla claiming that under pressure from the ruling party to defend the "non-appearance" of Prime Minister Narend