Who Is Ravneet Singh Bittu? BJP Leader, Who Once Joined Congress Briefly, Gets Dubbed ‘Traitor Friend’ By Rahul Gandhi, Verbal Exchange Soon Turns Into War Of Words | Watch

Things got heated in Parliament on Wednesday, February 4, after the Lok Sabha session wrapped up. Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu ran into each other in the complex, and the whole thing quickly turned into a shouting match.

Rahul Gandhi’s face-off with Ravneet Singh Bittu

Earlier, a bunch of opposition MPs had gathered near the Makar Dwar, protesting before the day’s proceedings. Bittu walked past them and tossed out a jab: “Ye Kargil ki jung jeet ke aaye hain”, basically mocking them, like they thought they’d just won a war.

Gandhi didn’t let it slide. He called Bittu a “traitor friend,” saying, “Here is a traitor walking right by. Look at the face.” Then, almost playfully, Gandhi held out his hand for a shake and said, “Hello, brother. My traitor friend. Don’t worry, you’ll come back to Congress.”

Bittu wasn’t having any of it. He refused the handshake and shot back, accusing Congress of betraying the country. You could hear the words “desh ke dushman”, enemies of the nation, thrown in there.

The two kept trading barbs for a bit before moving on.

This all happened against the backdrop of eight opposition MPs getting suspended that day for tossing papers at the Chair and breaking House rules during the Budget session.

The suspended MPs include Congress leaders Hibi Eden, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Prashant Yadaorao Padole, Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy, Dean Kuriakose, and CPM’s S Venkatesan.

Who is Ravneet Singh Bittu?

Ravneet Singh Bittu is the sitting Minister of state of Railways of the state of Punjab in BJP. He was momentarily appointed as the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha in 2021.

On March 6, 2024, just before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he left the party and took up BJP membership.

He is serving as the Minister of State of Railways and as the Minister of State of Food Processing Industries of the Third Modi ministry. 

He is serving as an MP since August 2024 as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party of the Rajya Sabha representing Rajasthan. He was elected to the lower house of Parliament of India, Lok Sabha, from Ludhiana in 2014 and 2019 Indian general elections and before that, from Anandpur Sahib.

He is a grandson of the previous Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh[4][5]. he was the leader of the Indian National Congress in Lok Sabha between 11 March 2021 and 18 July 2021.

In January 2021, he was attacked at the Singhu border, in a Jan Sansad program,[7][8] and appointed as the party whip in Lok Sabha.

Ravneet was briefly made the leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha in March 2021 when the incumbent Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was otherwise occupied in the 2021 West Bengal election campaigns.

He was also threatened with a bomb in 2023 on a WhatsApp call. He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on March 24, 2024.

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