Days after the Rajya Sabha’s Budget Session was adjourned till March 13 amid Opposition ruckus, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar has asked a parliamentary committee to investigate 12 MPs from the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for “gross disorderly conduct”.
According to the Rajya Sabha bulletin, the MPs violated the “rules and etiquette of Rajya Sabha by repeatedly entering the well of the Council, shouting slogans and persistently and wilfully obstructing the proceedings of the Council, compelling the Chair to repeatedly adjourn the sittings of the Council”. While nine MPs are from Congress, the other three are from AAP.
The Congress MPs against whom probe has been ordered include Shaktisinh Gohil, Naranbhai J Rathwa, Syed Nasir Hussain, Kumar Ketkar, Imran Prattapgarhi, L Hanumanthaiah, Phulo Devi Netam, Jebi Mather Hisham, and Ranjeet Ranjan. The politicians from AAP include Sanjay Singh, Sushil Kumar Gupta, and Sandeep Kumar Pathak.
In case of AAP’s Sanjay Singh, the Chairman has referred to the Committee a second question pertaining to “repeated submission of identical notices under Rule 267” to the Committee of Privileges for examination, investigation and report ignoring the “directions of the Chair”.
The Rajya Sabha saw repeated disruptions following protests by Opposition parties over various issues, including the Adani-Hindenburg Research row. Opposition parties have demanded a joint parliamentary probe (JPC) into the allegations by the US-based short-seller firm Hindenburg Research on the Adani Group alleging that the ports-to-media conglomerate was engaged in “stock manipulation” and “accounting fraud” to pull off the “largest con in corporate history”.
The first leg of the Budget Session ended on February 13. Both Houses will reconvene on March 13 for the second leg of the session which is scheduled to conclude on April 6.