Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali has accused Parliamentary panels of applying different standards to recent complaints filed by and against MPs from the ruling BJP.
In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Mr. Ali said that BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s complaint against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, which is under the purview of the Lok Sabha’s Ethics Committee, is being treated differently from the Opposition’s complaints against BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri for using communally charged and abusive language against Mr. Ali, which is under the consideration of the LS Privileges Committee.
The established Parliamentary procedure, Mr. Ali said, is to call the complainant before the panel first, before calling the accused. “However, in contravention of all set norms, the member, who is accused of making unbecoming remarks against me, appears to have been called and it is proved by the fact that I have not been called for the committee to place my position till now,” he said. On the other hand, he pointed out, the Ethics committee which is deliberating on Mr. Dubey’s complaint against Ms. Moitra has called the BJP MP first, sticking to Parliamentary norms.
Contrasting procedures
Mr. Bidhuri was called by the Privileges Committee on October 10 but he skipped the meeting, citing a “pressing commitment”. He was campaigning in Rajasthan’s Tonk district; six days after he made the “abusive remarks” in Parliament, the BJP had appointed him in-charge of the Tonk region. No further meeting of the Privileges Committee has been called.
In striking contrast, within three days of Mr. Dubey’s October 15 letter to Mr. Birla accusing Ms. Moitra of taking money for asking Parliamentary questions, his complaint was referred to the Ethics panel of the Lok Sabha, which has now called for a meeting on the issue on October 26. On Thursday night, a week before the slated meeting, the Hiranandani Group CEO, who has been accused of colluding with Ms. Moitra, turned approver in the case.
Mr. Ali also criticised the Ethics panel chairperson Vinod Kumar Sonkar for openly discussing Mr. Dubey’s complaints and the documents he has received. “I see this as a violation of Rule 275 of the Rules of Procedure in the Lok Sabha by none other than the chairman of the Ethics Committee. I also wonder how two sets of procedures are being followed in a similar set of notice/complaint,” Mr. Ali said in his letter.
