Furore in LS over privilege motion

The last day of the second part of the Budget session was disrupted over a privilege motion brought against former secretary general of the Lok Sabha Subhash Kashyap, over his remarks on the Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee.

While the remarks themselves were not under dispute, the BJP said that the recommendations of the privileges committee tabled on May 19, had been "changed at the last minute" and were not the ones that the BJP members had agreed to.

Four BJP MPs, Kishen Singh Sangwan, Rajinder Singh Rana, Ananth Hegde, and Virender Singh, who are members of the privileges committee, also resigned in the wake of the report.

"The recommendation of the committee was that Kashyap would be let off with a warning, but when the report was tabled this morning the recommendation had been changed," said BJP parliamentary party spokesperson V K Malhotra.

The listed motion says the House "... agrees with the findings and conclusions of the committee and resolves that Dr Subhash C Kashyap, former secretary-general, Lok Sabha, has committed a gross breach of privilege and contempt of the House by imputing motives to the speaker, Lok Sabha, in discharge of his duties and casting reflections on his impartiality and admonishes him for his grave misconduct."

The BJP in its parliamentary party meeting also threatened to bring in a motion of no-confidence against the speaker.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Priya Ranjan Das Munshi said that the Opposition was being unreasonable in its demands. "The BJP did not suggest any amendments to the report, nor record its dissent."

The House was adjourned sine die after the motion to admonish Kashyap was adopted by the treasury benches amidst shouting by the BJP members.