Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha was suspended from the Rajya Sabha on Friday. The suspension order for MP Raghav Chadha cited “gross violation of rules, misconduct, defiant attitude and contemptuous conduct”.
His suspension followed a motion moved by Leader of the House Piyush Goyal who sought action against the AAP leader for including names of some members of the Upper House without their consent in a proposed select committee for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
Five Rajya Sabha MPs — S Phangnon Konyak, Narhari Amin and Sudhanshu Trivedi of BJP, M Thambidurai of AIADMK and Sasmit Patra of BJD — said that their name was included without their consent in a select committee moved by Raghav Chadha in the House, according to Hindustan Times.
Raghav Chadha had proposed the constitution of a Select Committee to consider the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and had included the names of the four MPs.
The now suspended AAP MP took to ‘X’, formerly known as Twitter, to post a video questioning the suspension order. “”Why was I suspended? What was my crime? Was I suspended because I asked questions from the leaders of the largest party that is the BJP? Or my crime was that I put forth my point on the Delhi Services bill & asked for justice from BJP” the MP said in the video.
Calling himself a ‘suspended’ Rajya Sabha member, Raghav Chadha put forth some questions in his video. Chadha refuted allegations of including the names without consent. He said, “People from the BJP are saying I submitted some MPs’ signatures. I want to tell you the truth. Any parliamentarian has the right to nominate names for a committee. This means that I can propose names for a select committee. I don’t need an MP’s written consent or signature to do so. You just have to give the names. If any MP has an objection, they can withdraw their name. We have not submitted any signatures”.
MP Raghav Chadha further said, “BJP is accusing me of forging signatures but the truth is any MP can propose the name for the formation of any committee and neither the signature nor the written consent of the person whose name is proposed is required…”
AAP MP Sanjay Singh, whose suspension has also been extended today, said the decision was made on ‘baseless allegations’. Singh was suspended on July 24, four days after the Monsoon session of Parliament began.
“Instead of taking action in Manipur, they are targeting me. They extended my suspension going against the rules. I will continue to speak for Manipur and won’t get intimidated by such steps. Raghav Chadha has also been suspended over baseless allegations,” he said.
AAP MP Sushil Kumar Rinku was suspended from Lok Sabha for unruly behaviour on August 3.
Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
Updated: 11 Aug 2023, 09:04 PM IST