New Delhi, Feb. 13 -- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Nishikant Dubey on Thursday submitted a notice for moving a substantive motion against Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for "unethical conduct" and demanded that a parliamentary inquiry committee be set up to investigate his "continual misdeeds for destabilising the country and rescinding his 'MP status". The notice came on a day the government appeared to backtrack on its earlier threat of moving a privilege motion against Gandhi, who had linked Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri to recently released files by the US Department of Justice in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. People aware of the details said the government will not move a privilege motion against the LoP. A person aware of the details said Puri will "respond himself" to the allegations. On Wednesday, Puri said his meetings with disgraced American financier Jeffrey Epstein were part of an official delegation of the International Peace Institute as he launched a vigorous defence against allegations by the Opposition that linked him to the sex trafficker. The notice seeking Gandhi's disqualification from Parliament comes amid heightened tensions between the government and the Opposition on the recently signed India-US trade deal and the contents of an unpublished book by former army chief General (retired) MM Naravane. A separate notice under Rule 380 was given by BJP's chief whip Sanjay Jaiswal seeking the expungement of at least four lines from Gandhi's speech on Wednesday. Large chunks of Gandhi's speech that touched on the deal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were already expunged on Wednesday night by parliamentary authorities. In his notice, Dubey accused Gandhi of "unethical conduct" and said "he has become a major constituent of the 'Thuggery gang to destabilise India from within." Dubey has objected last week to Gandhi's speech which made a reference to Naravane's unpublished book with the "ulterior motive defaming the Indian Army vis-a-vis the ministry of defence along with shamefully involving the Prime Minister." The BJP lawmaker later said this was not the first time that Gandhi made efforts to create controversy with the objective of defaming the government -- be it defence, finance, commerce, or external affairs. He also accused Gandhi of being an "active conduit of Soros Foundation, which is notorious, worldwide, in de-stabilising various countries for the benefit of their client states". A second person aware of the details said substantive motion was moved as the Lok Sabha had not constituted the ethics as well as the privileges committees, which would have looked into the matter if the notices were accepted by the Speaker and referred to these committees. The substantive motion, which will be examined by the speaker, requires the presiding officer to find a prima facie case before admitting it. The motion is a self-contained independent proposal, used to elicit a formal decision from the House, and often resulting in a resolution or an order and is put to vote. In the past, the BJP had moved a substantive motion in 1987 when it sought the removal of then governor of Uttar Pradesh, Romesh Bhandari. It was admitted. but the House went into recess before it could be taken up for discussion. In 2005, the then Congress lawmaker Pranab Mukherjee brought a substantive motion against 10 MPs in Lok Sabha after the "cash-for-query" controversy -- a sting operation by a media house showed the lawmakers taking money in exchange for asking questions in Parliament. The House had adopted the motion, resulting in the expulsion of 10 members from the Lok Sabha and one from the Rajya Sabha. Gandhi defended his comments. In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said, "FIR is filed, a case is registered, or a privilege motion is brought -- I will fight for the farmers. Any trade deal that takes away the farmers' livelihood or weakens the country's food security is anti-farmer. We will not let the anti-farmer Modi government compromise on the interests of the food providers."...