Left to choose between Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking in Rajya Sabha and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi speaking in Lok Sabha simultaneously, television channels chose to telecast both on Tuesday, who were speaking at the same time in the two houses.

However, while Modi’s speech went on on the Rajya Sabha TV without disturbances, the Lok Sabha TV got freezed for nearly ten minutes from 3.58pm when Gandhi started speaking.

While Congress leaders cried foul, saying it was a deliberate attempt by the LSTV administration at the behest of the ruling BJP to ensure people focus on Modi’s speech as against Gandhi’s, LSTV blamed the freeze on power cuts.

Senior Congress leader Suresh Kanojia told dna, “Since both were speaking simultaneously at the two houses, the freezing was pre-planned and deliberately done, so that viewers can see only the PM’s speech.”He added that notices should be sent to the LSTV administration for the lapse.

However, Seema Gupta, chief executive of LSTV blamed the glitch on power cuts that apparently took place frequently on Tuesday. “Throughout Tuesday, there were frequent power cuts. During Rahul Gandhi’s speech, there was a power cut and we couldn’t connect the feed to the UPS. We sent out technical person immediately to the house, after some difficulty the problem was restored within a few minutes.

However, another senior Congress leader rubbished the explanation and asked how was the Rajya Sabha proceeding not affected because of the power cut.

Speaking at the upper house on the constitution debate, Modi said, "Constitution should be a celebration and the message of the Constitution must reach the future generations.”