- 1 week ago
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, criticised the government, questioning why India would allow another nation to be permitted to buy Russian oil.
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00:13The LPG shortage has now erupted into a full-blown political flashpoint in parliament.
00:20Opposition parties took the battle to the Lok Sabha, accusing the government of failing
00:25to anticipate and manage the crisis.
00:30I demand action against all these persons sitting in the Makkardwar and breaking all the rules
00:37of parliament.
00:38The Speaker has ordered that nobody is allowed to do any pradarshan, any demonstration here.
00:45They are not only doing a demonstration, they are having a party, they are having a picnic
00:50here.
00:54Leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi slammed the government, accusing it of bartering away
00:59India's foreign policy to placate Trump.
01:05And this is a very puzzling fact for me, it has been a very puzzling fact, why a nation
01:11the size of India would allow any other nation, the president of another nation to give us
01:20permission to buy Russian oil to decide who our relationships are.
01:28And this has been a puzzle, and I have been trying to figure this puzzle out.
01:34And I have figured the puzzle out.
01:39And the puzzle is about compromise.
01:42He himself has said...
01:43The Congress leader was stopped by the Speaker when he attempted to bring up the esteemed
01:47controversy.
01:51We have a gentleman sitting here, who is the oil minister.
01:59He himself has said that he is a friend of Mr. Epstein.
02:23The government, however, insists the situation is being blown out of proportion.
02:31There is no shortage of petrol, diesel, kerosene, ATF or fuel, fuel oil.
02:37The availability of petrol, diesel, aviation, turbine fuel, kerosene and fuel oil is fully assured.
02:46Retail outlets across the country are stocked and supply chains for these products are functioning
02:52normally.
02:53Additional allocation of PDS kerosene has been issued to all the states.
02:58Natural gas supply has been managed through prioritized allocation and the position is stable.
03:06The confrontation did not remain confined to the Lok Sabha floor.
03:12The government has multiplied to makenewish movement.
03:16One of these 호fers is also dead.
03:25Tourists are compiled.
03:40political leaders across the country have begun raising alarm West Bengal Chief Minister Mumta
03:47Banerjee has questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing the center of a lack of planning
03:52to deal with the unfolding fuel crisis for now the center says there is no cause for alarm
04:00but with protests rocking Parliament political face-offs intensifying and concerns spreading
04:07across states the LPG shortage has clearly turned into the latest high-voltage confrontation between
04:14the government and the opposition we are a report India today
04:25because I'm going to immediately take you to our political face-off this evening where both our
04:29guests will get two minutes to put their point forward the minute they are done the faders will
04:33go down thank you advocate my missing spokesperson Congress for joining us thank you Dr. Guru Prakash
04:38Paswan spokesperson Bharatiya Janata party I'd like to begin with the Congress spokesperson
04:43Mahima saying the fact is what was reiterated in Parliament which was spoken of yesterday as well
04:50when the motion was being discussed where you had moved against the speaker the no confidence motion
04:57is that Rahul Gandhi doesn't understand procedure and when to speak of what today the charge was
05:03that time was given as the notice was to ask time for the LPG shortage in the country yet the
05:10time was
05:11used to discuss other issues like possible charges of Epstein rather than stick to what was supposed to be
05:18spoken on the floor of the Parliament Jai Hind Preeti actually I'm thankful for the time that you give me
05:28on your show but you know two minutes is actually you know too long to ask the question the simple
05:34question we need to ask this government today and that I'll put in very straightforward words is that why is
05:41the government running away from answerability?
05:44why is it evading answerability? why is it evading answerability? does it not understand that discussion dialogue is the answer
05:51to this kind of a situation that we are facing at the moment?
05:54you know a joint secretary comes out and makes a statement from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
06:01it should be the minister who should be addressing the country when ESMA has been imposed
06:08Essential Services Maintenance Act has been imposed and the minister tells us that there is no shortage
06:16the you know LPG surrenders are being sold out in black across the national capital region across other places and
06:24the minister has the gall to tell us that there is no shortage
06:28the restaurants are getting shut the hotel associations are issuing representations
06:33you know the Delhi High Court canteen for the first time in its history has stopped serving main course food
06:41because of LPG shortage explicitly it has declared so
06:46you know schools are writing emails to their students' parents that sorry we will not be able to serve food
06:54for the next so many days because we have an LPG cylinder shortage
06:58we will get back to you shortly this is Sriram school in Noida
07:01you know that email is out there across the internet it is viral
07:05the Morbi ceramic industry in Gujarat is adversely affected due to you know all these issues due to the shortage
07:15but what does the speaker say
07:16and the question that you have your question has emerged out of there that we do not know the honourable
07:22LOP does not know what to speak of but let me just say
07:24Ma'am you can say it in your next turn but like I'll come back to that question what you've
07:29entailed in detail is very serious so therefore this is what should have been said on the floor of the
07:33parliament because these are serious charges
07:35and they are correct yet what is diverted attention from a very serious issue I'm not saying Epstein is not
07:41serious but you asked time for LPG so therefore what everyone expected was for you to discuss LPG and why
07:48you diverted attention from a very serious issue was not discussing LPG once again I'm not saying Epstein is not
07:54serious but that wasn't the what you asked time for so therefore the friction I'll come back to you save
08:00you know save your speech for that your piece I'm going to come right back but Dr.
08:04Paswan whatever has been detailed by Dr. Mahima Singh I can add you know add more to that you yourself
08:11today if you're going to try and book a cylinder you will not get a confirmation for that so we
08:16are neck deep in an LPG crisis which needs to be sorted out somewhere down the line the government seems
08:21to be suggesting you know the government's very quick to come in every day and say an ally fears that
08:27there is no shortage but on ground Dr.
08:36I live in the same country as you and my fellow panelists and I personally don't feel or see any
08:42shortage but to answer the question raised by my friend from the opposition party she has argued that the government
08:48is evading answerability let me give you three key examples which has happened today today on the floor of the
08:55house there was an unambiguous parliamentary assurance given
08:58with respect to every fuel category number one union minister Hardeep Singh Puri he has said and I quote he
09:05was very categorical he said the world has not faced a moment like this in the modern energy history and
09:11he firmly stated that India's crude supply position is secure and the volume secured exceeds what the state of Hormuz
09:18would have normally delivered during this period point number two which is very important that he puts across is that
09:23that the refineries are operating at a high capacity utilization in several cases they are exceeding
09:28100 percent so there is absolutely no point no room for any anxiety or any speculation number two the joint
09:35secretary statement that was being quoted by the congress spokesperson as well so Jata Sharma has confirmed that in inter
09:42ministerial briefing that India's crude supply remains secure our daily consumption is about 55 lakh barrels through diversified
09:49the volumes the volumes we have secured today exceed what would normally have arrived through the state of Hormuz during
09:56this period India now source crude from 40 countries this is very important up from 27 in 2025 alone and
10:05the third in the key point is that the government has a sort of readied its wartime governance infrastructure three
10:12key ministers including union
10:15in whom Mr. Amit Shah and S.J. Shankar and Hardeep Singh Puri they are closely monitoring the situation the
10:20fact of the matter remains that India nearly has two months of oil cushion India currently maintains 25 days of
10:27crude oil reserves 25 days of refined fuel stocks these are facts which are out in the public domain Mr.
10:34Rahul Gandhi the leader of opposition had a hit
10:36Sir I'll come back to you for you to finish I hear you and I agree with you where you're
10:41speaking about we can't hear you Dr. Paswan because the fader goes down
10:44so I'll come back to you to finish your statement but like I said I hear you on crude I
10:50hear you on oil I do not hear you on LPG I will show you the lines we've been following
10:55it through the country and I will also if you say that we live in the same country and there
10:59is no shortage I will give you the name of my agency it's called Priya gas agency it's in Lajpanagar
11:04I tried to book a cylinder three days ago and I cannot get one right and I live in defense
11:10colony so I've given you all the details and I will send you on my person my message
11:14that I have on the phone okay and I'll come right back to you if you have one do send
11:18me one okay so I will go back right now for the final submissions to both of you Dr. Mahima
11:24Singh stick the problem is you know there is always a question that is asked of the opposition that we
11:30that the opposition
11:31always misses to make a point and a dent where there is a pressing concern today was the day to
11:38put the government on the map on LPG but what you chose was something entirely different
11:43to speak off in parliament you wanted to make your point you have one and a half minutes go ahead
11:49Preeti you know it is audacious how the BJP spokesperson was laughing when you were telling your plight of not
11:56being able to book a cylinder I truly don't understand where does that kind of smirking come out from in
12:02such dire crisis and he and that joint secretary should see this video
12:07this is Gorakhpur in UP where there is a BJP government they say that the opposition ruled states are creating
12:15a you know narrative but these are LPG these are people you know poor people sitting out of agencies on
12:21top of their cylinders waiting you know to receive a what a gas cylinder on which their children's meals depend
12:31on which that's a basic necessity
12:33I mean for heaven's sake the BJP must get a reality check and please understand how important the dialogue is
12:40and now to come to your question Epstein file is where files are very much interconnected the PM is compromised
12:48because of the Epstein file
12:50and here's the Fader goes down so we can't hear you once again nobody said it wasn't an important issue
12:56you can discuss it but what was to be discussed today was supposed to be about LPG and you asked
13:03time for LPG therefore you give a window to the treasury benches to say that you do not follow protocol
13:09and procedure where parliament is concerned I am just re-emphasizing that one minute Dr. Paswan please address all concerns
13:17including mine
13:21your concern is addressed Preeti I am sure you would not face any problem just a matter of couple of
13:27days it will be resolved but the problem or the fact of the matter remains Preeti that there is a
13:31classical case of misplaced priorities these are extraordinary times extraordinary circumstances and we expect the opposition to show some level
13:40of national unity the situation in the disturbed areas are evolving and it's very sensitive
13:44but the problem remains that there is a pattern even during covid times we saw the sort of fear mongering
13:50the sort of narrative false narrative based on fake narrative like the vaccine story we very well remember that the
13:58leaders from the India alliance were saying that I am not going to take vaccine but we saw more than
14:03130 crore people were given the double shot when those countries were actually struggling these are times of crisis these
14:08are extraordinary times of challenges this is unprecedented this is historic
14:12as a member of the ruling party as a member of the government I would sincerely urge the media I
14:17would urge the opposition parties to come sit with us let us build a
14:22right and you are perfectly right in saying that because Dr. Paswan what you are saying right now is correct
14:27these are times which are unprecedented which we haven't seen before and therefore if there is a crisis we all
14:33have to come together so does the opposition so does the media but also the government because then there can't
14:39be deniability that there is no crisis
14:40we understand we understand there is an issue but let's accept there is an issue okay let's go with that
14:45and thank you for joining us we are going to get into a quick break appreciate both of you for
14:50taking the time out
14:51Maki Ewed coming up on the 13th and the 14th in our 23rd year the India Today conclave the theme
14:58this year breakthroughs and breakdowns
15:06the world is at crossroads witnessing historic innovations on one hand and deep fractures on the other
15:18at a time when global friendships politics technology and economies are rapidly shifting
15:25the India Today conclave the India today conclave returns with a powerful theme this year breakthroughs and breakdowns
15:38Union Minister Piyush Goyal and Ashwini Vaishna will kick off the conclave over two days with the India Today story
15:45of policy and tackling global power shifts
15:52the
15:53U.S.
15:56U.S.
16:01Ambassador to India
16:02Sergio Goyal will be at the India Today conclave touching upon the India U.S.
16:08story and the shifting global order under Donald Trump
16:16international voices will also bring diverse perspective from entrepreneur and author May
16:23Musk to American political commentator Laura Loomer global thinker and travel writer Piku Ayer will
16:31reflect on culture identity and a rapidly changing world business leaders like Anil Agrawal
16:40Karan Adani will decode India's growth story back home it's an election year and
16:47look forward to big political debates on the upcoming Kerala Tamil Nadu and Bengal elections
16:55Fresh off the T20 World Cup victory here the man of the moment Sanju Sampson speak on his spectacular performance
17:03in the tournament
17:04and when the spotlight shifts to entertainment expect glamour and star power to take centre stage with actor Akshay Kumar
17:14Anil Kapoor and more all at the India Today conclave
17:18so tune in on the March 13th and 14th for a debate and dialogue that puts the spotlight on powerful
17:25ideas that drive the next era of global transformation
17:29international significance
17:29internationalization
17:32international timeline
17:32Russian
17:33international
17:33international
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