BJP on Sachin Tendulkar: Congress has lost 'direction' under new chief

The government today attacked the Congress for disrupting iconic cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's speech in the Rajya Sabha, saying the opposition party has lost its "direction and plot after change in its leadership". Bowlers of opponent teams were unable to stop Tendulkar from making runs during his cricketing career, but unfortunately today in the Upper House the members of the Congress party stalled his maiden speech, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar told reporters here.

"The Congress today behaved in an undemocratic manner in the Upper House by disrupting Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar from speaking on the important and non-political issue of sports and its development in the country," Kumar said. Tendulkar could not initiate a short-duration discussion on the right to play and the future of sports in India. "Despite repeated requests from the Chairman of the House that he (Tendulkar) should be allowed to speak on this important and public interest issue, the Congress did not allow him to speak," Kumar said.

It seems that Congress has lost its direction and plot after the change in its leadership, the minister said in a veiled attack on new party president Rahul Gandhi. The stalemate in Parliament between the BJP and the Congress over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks against his predecessor Manmohan Singh continued.

"After disrupting the Lok Sabha for several days, today they are participating in the discussion on supplementary demand for the grants. But in the Rajya Sabha, they are continuing to disrupt the proceedings," the minister said, adding that the party was "totally confused".

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