Priyanka Gandhi dismisses charge of 'nexus' between Sonia Gandhi and George Soros :::: Biju Janata Dal of Odisha dumps 'no confidence motion' against Vice Prez and Rajya Sabha chairman

On BJP alleging links between George Soros and Sonia Gandhi, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Dec 10: 

 "It is the most ridiculous thing they could come up with. They are talking about some 1994 thing, no one has any record of it. No one knows what they are talking about. 

The only reason they are doing this is because they don't want to discuss the Adani issue...

The Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) of  Odisha dumped the 'no confidence motion' move of Congress and some other parties against Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar.

""It is an INDIA Alliance-backed resolution. BJD is not part of the INDIA Alliance. Therefore we are completely neutral on this issue. It is the issue that we are not connected with... ,"  BJD MP Sasmit Patra said on Tuesday.

"The question of talking about it or becoming a party to it does not arise...,," he said.  

The BJD was ousted in Odisha in May-June 2024 state assembly polls by the BJP. 

The BJD MP Sasmit Patra also said: "It is unfortunate that this kind of a logjam is happening in the Parliament... Smaller regional parties come with special mention, zero hours supplementary for questions and debates. 

But when the voices of states are not echoed in the Council of States the entire day gets washed away. Thousands of people want to see that their issues and concerns are raised. 

"It's high time that a rule should come that adjournment should not become a part of the parliamentary process. We are into the third week and all 3 weeks have seen adjournments and ruckus. A logjam breaking has to be done by both the larger parties, the Congress and the BJP," he said.

The lawmaker said: "The voices of states like Odisha need to be heard...".  

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh tweeted:

"ALL parties belonging to the INDIA group have had no option but to formally submit a no-confidence motion against the learned Hon'ble Chairman of the Rajya Sabha for the extremely partisan manner in which he has been conducting the proceedings of the Council of States. 

"It has been a very painful decision  for the INDIA parties to take, but in the interests of parliamentary democracy they have had to take this step. 

The motion has just been submitted to the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha," he said.