Speaker likely to reject BJP notice against Prime Minister

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is likely to reject the breach of privilege notice served by the BJP against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his statement on the WikiLeaks revelation that the UPA-I regime allegedly bribed MPs for the 2008 trust vote. Aurangzeb Naqshbandi reports.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is likely to reject the breach of privilege notice served by the BJP against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his statement on the WikiLeaks revelation that the UPA-I regime allegedly bribed MPs for the 2008 trust vote.

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A ruling by Kumar’s predecessor, Somnath Chatterjee, on a privilege notice moved by the Left parties in October 2008 is expected to settle the matter this time too. Chatterjee had rejected the Left’s notice on the ground that the PM was not a member of the lower House.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, on Tuesday announced she had given a privilege notice against Singh. Keeping in mind Chatterjee’s ruling, it seems, Swaraj’s counterpart in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, also moved a notice in the upper House, of which the PM is a member.

The Left had accused Singh of “misleading” Parliament on the India-US nuclear deal by not sticking to his assurance during the trust vote on July 22, 2008 that he would revert to Lok Sabha before operationalising the 123 agreement. They argued that by violating that assurance, Singh had caused breach of privilege and contempt of the House.