The Centre on Wednesday ruled out a clarification or regret from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “Pakistan conspiracy” barbs at the Opposition made recently at an election rally in Gujarat.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel insisted Modi’s speech had no reference to any conspiracies and asked the Opposition to look up the full text of the speech.

The discussions the government had with Opposition leaders on Tuesday did not meet with success, and the latter stormed to the well of both the Houses on Wednesday. The Rajya Sabha did not transact any business while in the Lok Sabha, the Congress boycotted the proceedings.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said there was no question of issuing an apology on the issue as nothing had been stated inside the House. “Nobody is going to give an apology. Nothing happened in the House. There is no practice of suspension of Question Hour. Don’t make a mockery of the House. Already wrong message is going,” he said.

Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, raising the issue for the third day, said the Congress is not demanding an apology. “But the PM should come to the House and say that he has made such statements to win the elections,” he said. “Not even an ordinary MP or a worker can think of joining hands with Pakistan,” he added.

In the Lok Sabha, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the PM is trying to break the country and blemish the image of good people. “If you had proof, you should have lodged an FIR against former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and arrested him. You are tarnishing his image and questioning his nationalism. If the PM had proof, why did he not take the services of intelligence agencies if there was something anti-national? He has thereby violated the oath of secrecy he has taken...If it was not in the nation’s interest and was anti-national, then you have violated the Constitution and the dignity of the office,” he said.

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