BJP seizes upon Congress MP D K Suresh's 'separate nation' remarks

New Delhi: The BJP on Friday seized upon Congress MP D K Suresh's remarks on a separate nation comprising southern states and demanded an apology from top opposition leaders, such as Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi.

Pushed to the backfoot, the Congress distanced itself from the remarks and asserted that it will not tolerate any statement that calls for disintegrating the country.

"Whether someone says or not, I, Mallikarjun Kharge, will state that India is one from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and will remain one," the Congress president said in the Rajya Sabha as Union minister Piyush Goyal raised the issue in the Upper House of Parliament.

Suresh, a Lok Sabha member from Bangalore Rural, had said injustice was meted out to the southern states in the allocation of their share in tax collection, while the tax money was distributed to north India.

"Our tax money is being distributed to north India, if we do not condemn it, there might arise a situation where we will have to demand for a separate nation," he said on Thursday while commenting on the interim budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and Goyal raised the issue in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha respectively, saying they condemn the statement of Suresh and demanded that the matter be referred to the ethics committee.

"The country will not tolerate this divisive approach of the Congress. I condemn the Congress party and its leaders and demand that they apologise for the statement," Goyal said, raising the issue during the Zero Hour.

Congress leaders walked out of the Lok Sabha briefly as Speaker Om Birla proceeded with the tabling of parliamentary papers after Joshi made a statement condemning the remarks of Suresh.

"I think they have boycotted the proceedings," the speaker said, referring to the empty opposition benches, after the tabling of the parliamentary papers.

When Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi sought time from the speaker to respond to Joshi, Birla asked him to raise the matter during the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the president's address.

Joshi said he too hails from a southern state as does External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and "neither of us feels in the manner as the Congress member has claimed".

"We firmly believe in the integrity and unity of India. There is no doubt on this count," the parliamentary affairs minister said.

Addressing a press conference here, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Suresh has no right to remain a Lok Sabha member even for a minute after he openly talked about disintegrating India and violated his oath of protecting the country's unity and sovereignty.

In a swipe at Rahul Gandhi, who is currently spearheading the "Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra", Prasad said the Congress leader is supposedly working to unite the country but has now disowned the comments of his party's MP.

While Congress leaders regularly charge the BJP with violating the Constitution and "abuse" the prime minister by calling him a dictator and alleging that he will not let elections take place in the future, they have maintained a conspicuous silence on such a comment by their MP against the Constitution, Prasad said.

BRS leader K Keshav Rao and DMK's T R Baalu appeared to support Suresh, contending that the remarks were made in the context of perceived discrimination against south India in terms of budgetary allocations.

Rao said the concept of unity should not come at the expense of recognising diversity and drew attention towards the potential discrimination south India could face in development and allocation of funds.

Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the president's address, the DMK leader said Suresh had only referred to the Centre's "stepmotherly approach" towards the southern states.