The curtain has been finally brought down on the reference of disorderly conduct of 32 parliamentarians to the Privileges Committee of the Lok Sabha. Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, through an order issued on Tuesday, has withdrawn from the Committee the references relating to 31 opposition National Democratic Alliance Members of Parliament, for their disorderly conduct in the House on April 24.
Rubbishing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray's 'hollow sympathy' for him over the Lok Sabha's privileges committee summons issue, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Wednesday told his nephew that he need not bother."We are competent to tackle the case. You should not worry," Thackeray said in an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.Raj has threatened not to allow officials and people's representative from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to enter Mumbai.
Although the stated objective of Chandurkar for the motion was the 'breach of privilege' of the House by Nand Lal in the matter of orders issued by the State Election Commissioner on elections to posts of local self-government bodies, there was speculation that Chandurkar, a Deshmukh loyalist, was targeting state CEO over his anti-Deshmukh stance. Lal alleged there was 'political vendetta' behind the assembly's decision to send him to two-day civil custody.
Announcing this, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee thanked the members for their cooperation in passing the Finance Bill 2008, but regretted that 28 hours and 30 minutes were lost due to interruptions and forced adjournments. However, he also noted that the House sat for an extra 36 hours and 38 minutes to compensate for the loss.
The meeting saw Opposition agreeing to undertake orderly behaviour in the House and in turn Chatterjee withdrawing the controversial reference of the MPs, mostly from the BJP- led National Democratic Alliance, to the Committee, sources said. An announcement on the issue is expected when the House reassembles at 14.00 hours. "Wait till two," the Speaker said, when reporters asked him about the outcome of the meeting.
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has called for an all-party meeting to resolve the impasse over the privilege notice issue.
"Punishment is not the central theme. There is no pre-conceived idea whether the punishment should be meted out or not," Lok Sabha Privileges Committee Chairman V Kishore Chandra Deo told PTI. Deo said the very fact that Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has referred the issue to the committee rather than taking action on his own showed that he wanted to sort out the matter by going to the root.
Protest in the House that day was prompted by the National Democratic Alliance agitation against price rise, which found its echo in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha after the opposition members formed a human chain outside Parliament complex to denounce the government's failure to check the price spiral.
Justice K Suguna, while granting the interim stay, also ordered issue of notice, returnable by four weeks, to the secretary, State Legislative Assembly and chairman, Committee of Privileges and Stalin.
The de-boarding of a Kerala MP from an Air India aircraft today erupted into a major row with the Parliamentarian being accused of calling the pilot a "glorified driver" while the politician threatened to move Parliament's Privileges Committee on the issue.
In an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamna, Thackeray had attacked MPs from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for what he termed was launching an anti-Marathi tirade in Parliament. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Committee headed by senior Congress MP, V Kishore Chandra Deo, on Tuesday after it recorded evidence of some members who had raised a breach of privilege against the Shiv Sena chief.
Indian envoy to the US Ronen Sen, who was in a soup over his 'headless chicken' remark, was on Thursday let off by the Lok Sabha Privileges Committee with some critical comments against him and an advisory that a diplomat should be discreet.
The committee, headed by senior Congress MP V Kishorechandra Deo, will meet on that day after Speaker Somnath Chatterjee referred the issue to it following a hue and cry by members who demanded the envoy's recall, sources said.
"In view of Sen's acceptance of having made the impugned remarks and that the same were unwarranted, and having tendered his unconditional apology, the Committee recommends that the matter should be allowed to rest here," the Rajya Sabha Committee said in its report tabled in the House. The Lok Sabha Privileges Committee, which had summoned Sen last month after the remark rocked Parliament during the monsoon session, last week decided to close the issue.
India's Ambassador to the United States Ronen Sen on Monday appeared before the Lok Sabha Privileges Committee and tendered an apology for his "headless chicken" comments. In an interview to rediff.com on August 20 titled 'We will have zero credibility', Sen had said: "It has been approved here (in Washington, DC) by the President, and there (in New Delhi) it's been approved by the Indian cabinet. So why do you have all this running around like headless chicken?"
The party also adopted a resolution expressing regret that some of its members of Parliament were involved in the cash for questions scandal.
Chatterjee threatened to refer their names to the Privileges Committee for necessary action if the declaration was not furnished, sources in the Speaker's Secretariat said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said on Tuesday that he will give his ruling this week on the breach of privilege notice against the author and the daily Pioneer, containing critical references against him.
Defence Minister George Fernandes is once again in the eye of a storm and could become a subject of censure by the privileges committee.
The current episode may well chart a different course and go for a long haul given the highly acerbic and bitter relations between the Narendra Modi government and the Opposition.
Congress MP Shantaram Naik on Tuesday gave a notice for breach of privilege against Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy in Rajya Sabha.
The Congress on Wednesday expressed its disapproval of the move by some Members of Parliament writing to United States President Barack Obama, seeking denial of visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying the "nation is bigger than politics".
Swamy gave notice in the Rajya Sabha for moving Breach of Privilege Motion against Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad over his remarks related to the AgustaWestland issue.
Members in both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday demanded stringent action against Delhi Police and CRPF personnel for assaulting and detaining two Left MPs and several students protesting growing attacks on Northeastern people in Delhi last week.
Congress MP Shantaram Naik on Monday gave notice of breach of privilege against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikkar to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari on a day Congress created a ruckus in Parliament against Modi's comments in an election rally against Sonia Gandhi on the VVIP chopper deal.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday came under attack in Lok Sabha, with the government accusing him of "playing politics of deception" and "misleading" the House over a mega food park project in his constituency Amethi, evoking strong protests from Congress members.
The remark by Agrawal was expunged by the chair even as it came for a strong condemnation from the BJP.
Thirty Members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly are headed to South America to 'study' the waterfalls in the Amazon forests.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's grand nephew would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Germany on Monday to demand declassification of files relating to the freedom fighter's mysterious disappearance in 1945.
The Question hour in the Lok Sabha was also washed out for the second consecutive day as an aggressive opposition stalled the proceedings over the same controversy.
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