Congress today said that the boycott of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament would continue till he apologised to his predecessor Manmohan Singh whom he had insulted with his "raincoat" jibe.
"We are going to boycott the Prime Minister. We have taken a stand. The Prime Minister has to tender an apology to our former Prime Minister. The kind of language he has used...Is an insult to the country and to the office (he holds)," senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily said.
He said that Modi's remarks reflected his desperation after he returned from the election campaign in Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly election is being held along with four other states.
"I think he has become desperate in the present elections. Having completed a desperate rally and campaign, he comes back to Parliament. He should have given (election campaign) charge to somebody else instead of uttering all sorts of desperate words on the floor of the House," he said.
Referring to Modi bowing before Parliament when he was to enter it for the first time in 2014, the Congress leader said, "When he entered Parliament, what a theatrical drama he played... Today, what is happening? He is kicking that very House."
Asked what would be his party's strategy in the future if the Prime Minister did not apologise, Moily said, "You will also see what will happen next."
"We have gone on record saying that we are going to boycott him unless he apologises," he added.
Replying to a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Modi had attacked Congress and taken on Singh who had described demonetisation as "organised loot" and "legalised plunder", saying "the art of bathing in a bathroom with a raincoat on" is known only to the former Prime Minister as there is "no blot on him" despite "all the scams".
This provoked an angry reaction from Congress members who staged a walkout in the midst of the reply by the Prime Minister.
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