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The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clashed in the Rajya Sabha on Monday over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks at the BJP National Council meeting that the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, led by the Congress, "sacrificed the interests of India's poor at the World Trade Organization (WTO)".
Anand Sharma, Congress' deputy leader in the House, accused Modi of contradicting the statements of commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a charge strongly rejected by finance minister Arun Jaitley.
"We cannot allow a situation that Prime Minister of the country will try to belittle and misinform when the House is in session," said Sharma.
Soon after the House mourned the death of former member Ekanath K Thakur, Sharma said he had given a notice for suspension of Question Hour to take up discussion on contradictions in government statements.
Chairman Hamid Ansari said the issue could be taken up after the Question Hour but as Congress members were unrelenting, he adjourned the House till noon.
Rebutting Sharma's accusation, Jaitley said his party, the BJP, had in December last year raised inconsistencies in the pact the previous government had signed at the WTO meeting in Bali and stood by it. "There is no contradiction in what the commerce minister and the prime minister have said," Jaitley said.
Modi had on Saturday hit out at the UPA for allegedly sacrificing the interest of poor people in the Bali deal. In contrast, the new government stood firm on food security at the recent Geneva round of WTO negotiations, Modi had said.
The Congress demanded that the PM come to the House and issue a clarification.
"The charge against us is made by none other than the prime minister. It has to be clarified because it misleads the country...It is the prime minister who has contradicted his own minister. He should come to the House and explain," Sharma said.
"The Prime Minister has made disparaging remarks against the previous (UPA) government," said Congress leader Digvijaya Singh. He noted Sitharaman had stated that this government had not deviated from the previous government's stand.
Replying to the charges, Sitharaman said: "Let us not give room for any kind of distortion. PM's comments are very much in the background we have discussed."
She added the agreement signed by the previous government was "not a perfect one" and Sharma, who has been a former commerce minister, had admitted it "gracefully".
She insisted she had only stated her government was not renegading on the agreement signed at WTO by the UPA government and was "only doing course correction".
