I favoured Mahua Moitra, never discouraged her: Rama Devi

New Delhi, Feb 4 Lok Sabha MP Rama Devi, who drew the ire of Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra for "not letting her speak", said on Friday she never discouraged the Bengal parliamentarian, and had "just requested her to tone down".

MP Rama Devi, who presided over the Lok Sabha proceedings on Thursday in regular Speaker Om Birla's absence, was accused by Moitra of not letting her conclude her speech.

Moitra's fiery speech had been the talk of the day on Thursday.

Responding to the Bengal MP, Rama Devi said: "I just told her to speak in a soft tone, not to be so angry or aggressive while speaking in the Parliament. That is the established tradition of the House, and we all have been obeying it since decades, without raising any questions.

"I gave her proper time to present her views on President's address as per Lok Sabha rules... even favoured her as we both are women. I always support women who try to excel, so there was no point to discourage her," the BJP MP added.

Rama Devi is one of the members of the Speaker's panel, who presides over the House proceedings if the Speaker is not present in the House.

She had interrupted Moitra when the latter's allotted time to speak was about to end, which upset the Trinamool MP.

Later, speaking to the media outside the House, Moitra said she was not allowed to speak for 13 minutes allotted to her.

The MP claimed that she was told to end her speech before she could conclude it.

On Friday, the Lok Sabha Speaker raised the issue in the Parliament and stressed on maintaining the decorum of the House, both inside and outside the parliament.

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