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Adhir to depose before House panel on Aug 30 over his suspension from Lok Sabha
Congress party's Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, suspended from the Lok Sabha pending a probe, will depose before the privileges committee on August 30.
New Delhi The Congress party’s floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who was suspended from the Lok Sabha on August 10 pending a probe by the privileges committee, will depose before the panel on August 30, according to officials aware of the matter.
Read here: ‘Never experienced before…’: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on suspension
The Lok Sabha privileges committee met on Friday to discuss the case against Chowdhury, and though the charges against him are serious, the people cited above suggested he could be reinstated soon owing to his stature as a senior parliamentarian.
“The House panel will try to give its report as quickly as possible. Chowdhury was suspended from the Lok Sabha on August 10 and the privileges panel held its first meeting on the issue in just eight days. The panel will meet again on August 30 and it might be the last meeting on this subject,” said a senior Parliament official who asked not to be named.
“The privileges panel goes strictly by the convention and rules of Parliament. As privileges charges have been moved against Chowdhury, he will be asked to depose before the privileges committee. He must get an opportunity to present his side to the panel,” the official added.
A second Lok Sabha official said although he has been suspended for “gross and deliberate misconduct”, Chowdhury remains an important leader as the largest Opposition party’s floor leader and the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.
Chowdhury, a five-term MP, was suspended from the Lok Sabha on August 10 and a privilege motion was initiated against him for his “gross, deliberate and repeated misconduct”, hours after he tried to compare Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Dhritarashtra and suggest that the PM is “Nirav” (Bengali for silent) on Manipur.
According to parliamentary experts, Chowdhury became the first floor leader of the largest Opposition party to be suspended from the House.
After the lengthy debate on the no-confidence motion ended on August 10, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi moved a resolution that said, “This House, having taken note of the gross, deliberate and repeated misconduct of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in utter disregard of the House and authority of the chair, resolves that the matter of misconduct be further referred to the Committee of Privileges for further investigation and Chowdhury be suspended from service of the House till the committee submits its report.”
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also took note of the day’s developments and observed that Chowdhury’s behaviour during the debate was not appropriate.
Read here: Bid to ‘throttle’ Oppn voice: Adhir attacks BJP over suspension
Two days after his suspension, Chowdhury addressed a press conference and claimed that he has been “hanged” and thereafter asked to face trial. He also said that the “simple formula” could have been to expunge his words but instead the government chose to suspended him from the House.
