Amid the ongoing logjam in the Lok Sabha, a fresh flashpoint erupted on Thursday after Speaker Om Birla said he had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to come to the House on Wednesday, citing “concrete information on several Congress MPs moving towards the PM’s seat and trying to carry out an unexpected act”.The PM was scheduled to reply to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address. The Lok Sabha, in an unprecedented development, today passed the Motion of Thanks without the PM’s customary reply.As the Lower House reassembled today at 3 pm after repeated adjournments, Birla said if this incident had taken place, it would have left the democratic traditions of the country in “shreds”.The Speaker’s assertion triggered protests by Opposition MPs, who rushed to the well carrying posters and banners. Following the disruptions, Birla adjourned the House for the day, describing the behaviour of the Opposition MPs as a “black spot” in parliamentary set-up. Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra dismissed Birla’s claim of a threat to the PM as an “absolute lie”. She alleged that the government was making the Speaker “say all this” because on Wednesday the PM did not have the “courage” to come to the House. She also alleged that Prime Minister Modi was “hiding behind” the Speaker.The Congress and the government have been on the warpath since February 2 when Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to quote from an unpublished memoir of former Army Chief General MM Naravane in the Lok Sabha. The book, Rahul alleged, exposed how the Army was deserted by the political leadership during the 2020 China border crisis.The Lok Sabha on Wednesday witnessed dramatic scenes as women MPs from the Opposition marched towards the treasury benches holding banners ahead of the PM’s scheduled reply at 5 pm. “As I saw this scene in the House, I requested the PM not to come to the Lok Sabha, fearing the chaos could lead to ugly scenes,” said Birla, recalling the pandemonium.The women MPs held a banner that read “Jo uchit samjho wo karo (do whatever you think is right)”, a reply Naravane writes in his memoir he got from the government’s top brass when he asked how to deal with intruding Chinese military at the border in 2020. The siege ended after some ministers requested the MPs to leave.