Smriti Irani's arrogance, lies forced us to bring privilege motion: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress Party on Monday said Union Human Resource and Development Minister Smriti Irani `s arrogance and blatant lies in Parliament during the discussion on Hyderabad University scholar Rohith Vemula forced them to move the privilege motion against her.

"What Smriti Irani said in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were blatant lies and this hasn`t been claimed by the Opposition, but by the people who knew Rohith; his family members and his University colleagues. Why does she have so much arrogance? Irani could have accepted that she got the facts wrong and the matter would have been over. But just because they are in power, they have arrogance and this arrogance will let them down," Punia told ANI.

"The present government fails to reach out to the Opposition only because of its arrogance. Instead of running the house in a proper way, there has been a situation of conflict in Parliament. This is not a good sign for the parliamentary democracy," Punia added.

Earlier, the Congress had said that Irani`s statement in Parliament over the Vemula case had many contradictions and it was a "fit case" for a privilege motion as she had "misled" the nation.

"There would be a privilege motion and it should be done. She said some two to three things especially in the Lok Sabha on which there is contradiction," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, told reporters in Srinagar.

"The family (of Rohith) also said police as well as the doctor were present there.... The doctor contradicted her (the minister), the police contradicted her and his mother contradicted her. So, obviously, there will be a privilege motion. Everything is recorded on both sides. So this is a fit case for privilege (motion)," Azad said.

Irani in her speech in Parliament had said there was no question of an apology from her. She pointed out that according to a report submitted to the Telangana High Court, the police had reached Rohith`s hostel at 7:20 pm when they found the body.

"The police said that when they reached the hostel, they found the room open and the dead body was on the table. A hand written suicide note was found. The suicide note that was left behind does not blame anyone," she said.

"This is not my submission. This is what the police said. No one allowed a doctor near this child, to revive this child. Instead, his body was used as a political tool. No police was allowed till 6:30 am the following morning. Who tried to help this child?" she asked.