New Delhi, Aug 3: The row which erupted over the resignations of two senior journalists of a prominent Hindi news channel resonated in the Lok Sabha on Friday as Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge accused the government of "muzzling the critical press".

Referring to the exit of ABP News' Managing Editor Milind Khandekar and senior anchor Punya Prasun Bajpai, Kharge said the two journalists faced the axe as they failed to tow the government line.

"There have been several instances of the government trying to stifle the media in the past few years. Especially when they try to do a 'Reality Check' of government's views. That's when they are intimidated, threatened... if there is no freedom of speech, how can we speak?" Kharge said in the Lok Sabha.

Although ABP News is a privately owned channel, critics claim it was under considerable pressure from the government for its critical reportage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's schemes and policies over the past few months. The Centre, however, has refuted the charger.

Reacting the charges levelled by Kharge, Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore said the allegations are baseless.

Instead of "muzzling dissent", Rathore said the government even refrained to reprimand ABP News when their anchor (Punya Prasun Bajpai) ran a fake story to defame PM Modi.

"The channel he is talking about ran a wrong story. Despite that, the government did not issue a show-cause notice. If the government wanted to interfere, it would have because the Free Dish (state-run satellite TV service) is the government's," he said.

The story referred to by Rathore claimed that one of the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana, who participated in PM Modi's recent outreach programme, "lied" about her income doubling in the last four years.

According to Rathore, the sacking of Khandekar and Bajpai could be a decision taken by the ABP management considering the channel's deteriorating TRP (television rating points).

"The government has nothing to do with this. This channel - their TRP is falling rapidly because people don't want to see them anymore. And they are blaming the government" he added.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 03, 2018 08:57 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).