The Lok Sabha on Thursday witnessed some heated moments when Congress lawmakers clashed with minister Anurag Thakur over his comments on the ‘Gandhi parivar’ during the introduction of the taxation amendment bill. As the exchange between the two sides turned bitter, with the Congress demanding an apology from the minister, Speaker Om Birla adjourned the House for half an hour.

“We have never targeted the PM, we have never called him names. Why are they attacking the Gandhis, out of context …bringing in manes of Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, people who are not even alive,” said an agitated Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Congress’s leader in the Lok Sabha. The party’s deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi demanded an apology from Thakur.

The outburst followed comments of Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, who targeted the ‘Gandhi parivar’ while defending the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Bill that includes the PM Cares Fund.

‘The Opposition is opposing PM Cares Fund, just for the sake of it, is like they opposed EVMs & then lost many elections.  They subsequently termed Jan Dhan, demonetisation, Triple Talaq and GST bad. They find defect in everything, the truth is that there is defect in their intent,” said Thakur

Anurag Thakur accused the Gandhi family, naming its members,  of ‘cheating’ the public by accumulating money in trusts in the names of the members of the family.

Earlier, Congress leader Manish Tiwari, opposing the Bill, said, “Since the PM CARES Fund has the name of the institution of the Prime Minister attached to it, wouldn’t it have been more appropriate if this fund would have been created through legislation rather than as a public trust.”