The BJP may consider removing its MP Kirit Somaiya as the chairman of the Lok Sabha House Committee after several party MPs have lodged protests against his style of working.
The House panel has been entrusted with the responsibility of distributing official flats and bungalows to MPs who are not ministers. Ministers are allotted official accommodation directly by the urban development ministry.
Sources added that Somaiya, an MP from Mumbai North-East, may be replaced by Arjun Meghwal, the chief whip of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Lok Sabha.
If such a change is undertaken, this will possibly be the first time when a chairman of a parliamentary panel has been removed by his own party — barely months after taking charge.
During the tenure of the UPA government, the BJP had sought the removal of Jaswant Singh from a panel’s chairmanship after he was sacked from the party.
According to sources, several BJP MPs have complained to the party brass that Somaiya had been very slow in allotting accommodation to party MPs even as many Opposition MPs received their flats. Some members of the BJP’s key allies too, have faced similar problems.
“We also face a lot of problems when we try to contact him. He is barely reachable,” said one MP. Rajya Sabha has a separate panel for its MPs which is headed by BJP’s VP Singh Badnore.
{{/usCountry}}“We also face a lot of problems when we try to contact him. He is barely reachable,” said one MP. Rajya Sabha has a separate panel for its MPs which is headed by BJP’s VP Singh Badnore.
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