In a veiled dig at the Congress, BJP MLA from Hisar Kamal Gupta on Tuesday said "those who love Italy do not know about RSS".
His remarks come a day after senior Congress leader Raghuvir Singh Kadian made a mention of the RSS in the Haryana Assembly to take a swipe at the BJP-led government in the state alleging that it was the Sangh which was pulling the strings.
Gupta was participating in the general discussion on the budget estimates for the year 2020-21, which were presented by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who also holds the finance department, in the House on Friday.
"Those who love Italy talk about RSS. But they do not know anything about RSS," he said in an apparent reference to the Italian origin of Congress party president Sonia Gandhi.
As soon as the BJP MLA said "those who love Italy...", Congress members stood up and lodged a strong protest.
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Unfazed by the protest, Gupta kept up his attack on the Congress benches and said, "What do they know about RSS? RSS is our mother, we are proud that we are its sons. The Sangh has played a key role in nation building."
"Our prime minister and chief minister are from the RSS background," said Gupta in the House, as BJP members thumped the benches and raised "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" slogans.
As din prevailed for a while, Speaker Gian Chand Gupta urged both the ruling and opposition benches to maintain decorum of the House.
Meanwhile, taking part in the Budget discussion, Indian National Lok Dal's (INLD) lone member Abhay Singh Chautala took objection to the fact that only two ministers were present in the House when he was speaking. He claimed that the government was not serious about what opposition members had to say.
Chautala also targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party-Jannayak Janta Party coalition government over mounting debts.
"This budget disappoints all," he said and expressed concern over "falling standard of education" in the state, adding 40,000 teachers posts were lying vacant.
"This government talks about 75 per cent reservation for the local youth in private sector jobs, but does not spell out the steps it intends to take to deal with over 27 per cent unemployment rate," the INLD leader said.
During his speech, Chautala got support from Congress members, including Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Aftab Ahmed, who said the senior legislator's seat should be among the front rows of the opposition benches and not at the back.
Later, the INLD leader told reporters outside the assembly, "It does not matter to me if they (ruling BJP) have given me a seat at the back, but at least they should allow me to speak freely in the House."
Taking part in the budget discussion, Congress MLA from Dabwali, Amit Sihag said drug issue was a major concern in his constituency and the government should make adequate allocations for opening de-addiction centres and for other necessary steps that need to be taken to deal with the issue.
He also said the government should declare Dabwali-Sirsa as agro-backward zone.
BJP MLA from Panipat, Pramod Vij sought Rs 500 crore- package for the textile industry in Panipat.
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