Rahul will bring home points if there is debate on China in Parliament: Amarinder Singh

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday favoured having a debate in Parliament on relations with China in the light of face-off in Eastern Ladakh and expressed confidence that party leader Rahul Gandhi will "bring home the points" that have been raised by the party over the government's handling of the situation. "Parliament is a forum for debate so let there be a debate. We are quite confident that Rahulji will hold his position and bring home the points that are being raised in this discussion," Singh said at a press conference here.

The Chief Minister was responding to the remarks of Home Minister Amit Shah during an interview with ANI. The Home Minister had accused Gandhi of doing "ochhi rajniti" (shallow-minded politics) and making remarks that were "liked by" China and Pakistan during border tensions with Beijing and asserted that the government was prepared for a debate in Parliament in which "1962 se aaj tak do-do haath ho jayein".

"There will be parliament session. If you want to discuss, we will. Let all be discussed from 1962 to today. No one is afraid of discussion. But when the soldiers of the country are making efforts, the government is taking solid steps after taking a stand. At that time, making statements that please Pakistan and China, this should not be done," he said. Amit Shah had said the government was fully capable of handling anti-India propaganda but it was painful when a former President of such a big political party indulges in shallow-minded politics at a time of crisis. He said Rahul Gandhi should introspect that his hashtag of 'Surender Modi' is being encouraged by Pakistan and China.

Rahul Gandhi has been repeatedly targeting the government over the stand-off with China even as most other her opposition parties have backed the government's stance in the face-off with China in Eastern Ladakh. On Friday, Gandhi posted a video and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should tell "the truth" as several accounts were saying that China has made incursions in Eastern Ladakh.

Meanwhile, Amarinder Singh said that Punjab government is estimating a major decrease in revenue by the end of this financial year and it has sent an estimate of the same to the Centre. "We estimate that by the end of this financial year, we will be about Rs 30,000 crore short of revenue. The reason is GST (collections) will be reduced, trade and industry activities are going down due to COVID-19. Nobody knows when this COVID-19 situation will end," he said. (ANI)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)