Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has directed the Rajya Sabha Privileges Committee to investigate the complaints filed by four MPs who accused AAP member Raghav Chadha of proposing their name for a House panel without their consent in violation of rules. This is the second investigation to be opened against Mr. Chadha within a week.
Based on Mr. Dhankhar’s direction on August 3 the panel is already studying the complaint filed by four BJP MPs who accused Mr. Chadha of “intentional and deliberate act of presenting misleading facts to the media,” about the suspension of his colleague Sanjay Singh.
In the latest case, MPs Sasmit Patra, S Phangnon Konyak, M. Thambidurai and Narhari Amin alleged breach of privilege by Mr. Chadha for including their names without “for inter-alia including their names without their consent, in violation of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, in a motion on August 7”. Mr. Chadha had proposed the constitution of a Select Committee to consider the ‘Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023’ and had included the names of the four MPs. All the four MPs had raised the issue during the debate on the Delhi Services Bill on Monday.
‘We are not scared’
The AAP, meanwhile, claims that all these investigations are aimed at “disqualifying” Mr. Chadha. “Their aim is to end Raghav Chadha’s membership like they did with Rahul Gandhi... we are not scared,” Mr. Sanjay Singh said. Mr. Singh defended Mr. Chadha insisting that he had not violated any rules and thus his actions did not amount to breach of privilege.
Meanwhile, another AAP MP Sushil Gupta was under fire on Wednesday in the Upper House for wearing a garland of tomatoes to the House. The Chairman took a strong exception to Mr. Gupta’s conduct. “There is a limit to which we can dip in our conduct. As a chairman of the Rajya Sabha, I am extremely pained,” Mr. Dhankhar said before adjourning the proceedings till 2 pm. Speaking to reporters outside the House, Mr. Gupta said, “Tomatoes are selling for more than ₹250 per kg and people are spending several hours in the queue to buy tomatoes at subsidised rates. It is a pitiful situation, especially when the Prime Minister has no time to deal with such issues and he doesn’t bother to come to the Parliament,” he said.
