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‘Haven't studied it yet’: Shashi Tharoor on bills to remove jailed PM, CMs
The bills propose that a sitting minister, CM, or even the PM can lose their position within a month if they are arrested or detained for 30 days straight.
Congress Lok MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday said he has not yet studied in detail the bills proposing the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers, and ministers facing serious criminal charges.
Shashi Tharoor said he will have to study the bills to find problems in it.
“I haven’t studied the bill carefully enough. On the face of it, it’s difficult to find a problem, obviously, if someone has done something wrong, they should not remain a minister anywhere. However, I don’t know if there’s any other motive behind the bill, since I haven’t examined it in detail,” Tharoor said in Parliament complex on Wednesday.
On the issue of online gaming, Tharoor said it should be regulated and taxed rather than banned, cautioning that prohibition pushes it underground and benefits criminal networks.
“I have written an article in 2019 that, to my mind, the government should be legalising online gaming and taxing it. If you simply ban it, it goes underground and the mafia makes money from it,” he said.
Shashi Tharoor added that the matter required deeper scrutiny.
“Ideally, this kind of issue should be referred to a standing committee and studied in more detail. That hasn't happened, and I don't understand why,” he added.
The bills propose that a sitting minister, chief minister, or even the prime minister can lose their position within a month if they are arrested or detained for 30 days straight over an offence that carries a jail term of five years or more were introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union home minister Amit Shah.
The move to introduce the bills faced opposition from AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, prompting sloganeering from the Opposition.
“This violates the separation of powers. It gives executive agencies power to play judge, jury, and executioner. This bill would empower the unelected to play the role of the executioner,” Owaisi said, opposing the bills.
