Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has referred petitions submitted by the Trinamool Congress and the YSR Congress under the anti-defection law against Sisir Adhikari and K Raghu Rama Krishna Raju respectively to the Privileges Committee.
Mr. Birla's move comes, 18-months after the YSR Congress and nearly seven months after the Trinamool Congress had originally moved the petition.
YSR Congress had written to Mr. Birla seeking to disqualify Mr. Raju, a Lok Sabha member from Narasapuram constituency in July 2020, for publicly criticising the Andhra Pradesh government led by Jagan Mohan Reddy. Mr Raju, it was believed was headed to the BJP. However, two years later, he has not formally joined any other political outfit. The YSR Congress has been pursuing the disqualification petition assiduously with the Speaker and were upset with the delay.
Mr Adhikari, a Lok Sabha member from Kanthi in West Bengal, had quit the Trinamool Congress to join the BJP in March last year in the run-up to assembly elections in the state. His son Suvendu had defeated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram assembly seat in the state elections in May last year. Banerjee was later elected to the state assembly from Bhabanipur in a byelection.
Soon after the elections, TMC's Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay had written to Mr Birla seeking to disqualify Mr Adhikari under the anti-defection law.
Both the petitions are now with the Privileges committee headed by BJP MP from Jharkhand Sunil Kumar Singh.
