New Delhi: The Congress party on Wednesday moved a privilege motion against Union Home Minister Amit Shah for ‘casting aspersions’ on its Rajya Sabha MP and former party president Sonia Gandhi.
Jairam Ramesh, Congress communications-in-charge, alleged a deliberate attempt to defame Sonia Gandhi regarding the National Prime Minister's Relief Fund's functioning in a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar."
Ramesh has accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of making false and defamatory statements against Sonia Gandhi and has demanded privilege proceedings against Shah.
Jairam Ramesh's demand for a privilege motion came after Amit Shah made statements during a debate on the Disaster Management Bill 2024 in the House on March 25, 2025.
“A family controlled the fund when Congress was in power. The Congress president was a member of this committee. The Congress president was part of a government fund. What answer will we give to people? They think nobody reads, nobody notices it,” Jairam quoted Shah as saying in his letter.
Jairam, also the Congress chief whip, alleged that Union Home Minister Amit Shah insinuated and "imputed motives" to Sonia Gandhi regarding the National Prime Minister's Relief Fund's (NPMRF) functioning, despite not mentioning her name explicitly.
“It is well established that it is a breach of privilege and contempt of the House to cast reflections or make derogatory references to any MP. In the instant case, the home minister has made unfounded allegations against Sonia Gandhi with a premeditated motive to malign her reputation,” he said.
“The home minister’s statement is blatantly false and is defamatory. This tantamounts to a breach of privilege of Sonia Gandhi,” he further stated.
Jairam Ramesh's move to initiate a privilege motion against Amit Shah follows a string of similar notices against top government officials. Recently, Ramesh filed notices against JP Nadda, Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, and Kiren Rijiju, Parliamentary Affairs Minister, for their allegedly misleading remarks about Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister.
Both ministers had stated that Karnataka Dy CM DK Shivakumar spoke about changing the Constitution to facilitate 4% reservation for Muslims.
(inputs from IANS)