BJP MP Demands Termination Of Rahul Gandhi's LS Membership Over Remarks During President's Address: Report
BJP MP moved a privilege motion against Rahul Gandhi for making a "misleading, derogatory, and unparliamentary" statement during a discussion on the motion of thanks for the President's Address.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey came before the Lok Sabha Privilege Committee on Friday and urged that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha membership be terminated, news agency ANI reported citing sources.
Nishikant Dubey moved for a privilege motion against Rahul Gandhi because he made a "misleading, derogatory, unparliamentary, and incriminatory" statement during a discussion on the motion of thanks for the President's Address.
According to the report, Lok Sabha MP Sunil Singh asked Dubey to appear before the committee. Sunil Singh, the panel's chair, as well as TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, K Suresh from the Congress, CP Joshi, Dilip Ghosh, Raju Bista, and Ganesh Singh from the BJP, were all present today. MPs K Suresh and Kalyan Banerjee made the case that there was no justification for such a breach because the Wayanad MP's speech had already been quashed, the report said.
According to the report, DMK MP TR Baalu did not appear before the committee today, but he wrote to the panel saying that there was no privilege that could be used against Rahul.
In his argument, Dubey first stated that even though the debate was in the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, Rahul Gandhi's response was largely about Gautam Adani, and Adani was mentioned by Rahul Gandhi at least 75 times in his speech.
BJP MP Seeks Three Privilege Notices Against Gandhi:
The Jharkhand MP presented his case, claiming that three privilege notices against Gandhi were required.
- One, under Rule 352 (2), an MP may make a comment on a fellow parliamentarian only with prior notice and without the Speaker's approval. Rahul violated this by commenting on Prime Minister Modi, as per the report.
- Second, Dubey cited the 1976 incident in which Subramanian Swamy was expelled from Rajya Sabha and allegations were levelled against Parliament and the Prime Minister. Dubey stated that the same is true now: casting doubt on the Prime Minister's actions undermines democracy.
- Third, Dubey affirmed that Rahul Gandhi's speech had been removed, but when he checked social media, he discovered that Gandhi's handles on Twitter and YouTube channels still had the removed speech and tweets. According to the report, this undermines the Speaker's authority and discretion.
'Undermining Authority Of Any State Leader A Compromise On National Interest': Dubey
"Undermining the authority and position of any state leader or head of state itself accounts for a compromise on national interest": Dubey was quoted as saying by ANI.
According to the report, Dubey also argued that Gandhi's allegations regarding Adani projects listed in Israel and Bangladesh are an act against the interests of India.
Nishikant Dubey also authenticated the power plant agreement signed by Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2011.
"Any argument by the Congress that the Adani group gave the power plant to Bangladesh during the Modi regime was false," the BJP MP said, as stated in the report.
"As a result, Nishikant Dubey demands the termination of Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha membership through his privilege motion," the report said.
The panel is likely to summon Rahul Gandhi to testify before it in connection with the privilege motion in the coming days.
On February 8, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker seeking a breach of privilege motion notice against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, a day after his speech in Lok Sabha in which he made several allegations about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his association with industrialist Gautam Adani.
(With Inputs From ANI)
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