The privileges committee of Lok Sabha met on Friday to discuss the suspension of Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. The panel will meet again to take the issue further when the suspended MP may also be asked to make an appearance, sources said.
According to sources privy to the development, the committee and its members – cutting across party lines – under the chairmanship of BJP MP Sunil Singh, agreed that a quick call should be taken on Chowdhury’s suspension, as he was the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and, most importantly, the chairperson of parliament’s public accounts committee (PAC).
“The decision must be taken according to constitutional provisions and as per past precepts,” a member told News18.
Sunil Singh will be deciding on the date for the next meeting in a couple of days. The panel is likely to appeal to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla to revoke Chowdhury’s suspension after hearing the Congress leader’s side at the next meeting.
Other members who attended the meeting included Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Raju Bista and Dilip Ghosh from the BJP; TR Baalu from the DMK; Kalyan Banerjee from the Trinamool Congress; and K Suresh from the Congress.
On August 10, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reply to the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition, Chowdhury was repeatedly heard making comments. Earlier, too, when he spoke, he had compared the prime minister to fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi. The BJP was up in arms about Chowdhury’s conduct and demanded that the speaker must take action against him, while parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi asked for an unconditional apology from the Congress MP.
“That this House, having taken serious note of the gross, deliberate and repeated misconduct of (Shri) Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in utter disregard to the House and authority of the Chair, resolve that the matter of the misconduct of (Shri) Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury be referred to Committee of Privileges of the House for further investigation, and report to the House and (Shri) Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury be suspended from the service of the House till the Committee of Privileges submits its report,” reads the motion moved by Joshi.
Several opposition leaders have also protested Chowdhury’s suspension, calling it arbitrary.
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