Will the 14th Lok Sabha have to bear one more blot after going down in history with the dubious distinction of having expelled 10 of its members in one stroke?
This is the question being debated in political circles after the Babubhai Katara episode came to light last Wednesday and investigations in the human trafficking case saw revelations that some more lawmakers may be in involved in such acts.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, concerned over the development, has already said that the issue could come up at the meeting of leaders convened by him on April 25 on the eve of the re-convening of the second phase of Budget session of Parliament.
Katara, parliamentarian from Dahod in Gujarat, has already been suspended by the BJP, which was looking into charges against another parliamentarian from Rajasthan. The question being asked is whether the House would take yet another extreme step.
The ten members as also one from the Rajya Sabha were expelled last year for misconduct in accepting money for raising questions in what had come to be known as 'cash-for-query' scam exposed by a sting operation on a news channel.
Parliamentary history was then created when in a precedent-setting decision in over 50 years, the two Houses, acting swiftly on the recommendations of the Committees that went into the scam adopted motions for their expulsion, which said their conduct was 'unethical' and 'unbecoming' of lawmakers and their continuance 'untenable.'
There was only one case of expulsion for a similar misconduct in 1951 when the Provincial Parliament removed H G Mudgal for accepting money from Bombay Bullion traders for doing their work in Parliament. His resignation was not accepted.
The House also witnessed setting up of yet another committee after another expose concerning MP Local Area Development Scheme.
Besides, the 14th Lok Sabha had also seen, perhaps for the first time, stalling of the House over what had come to be known as 'tainted' ministers, an issue raised by the
Opposition concerning several Ministers in the Manmohan Singh government allegedly involved in corruption and criminal cases.
One of the members of the House and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren was convicted for life in a murder case. Soren's was a unique case from being a Cabinet minister straight to Tihar jail. Two parliamentarians --Mohammed Shahabuddin and Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav have been in jail for long time in connection with criminal cases.
The House could have perhaps witnessed nationality of a member being brought into question. Congress member from Assam M K Subba's citizenship was questioned by BJP but the Speaker ruled that it was not for the House to decide in the matter and the member dismissed the charges claiming that he was a citizen of India.
Incidentally, the 14th Lok Sabha would complete three years next month.
Katara was arrested at the international airport in New Delhi on Wednesday while allegedly trying to take a woman and a teenaged boy to Canada on the passports of his wife and son. His aide Rajender Kumar Gampa and two others have also been arrested besides the woman Paramjeet and the boy.
