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NDA meet before all-party meet by Speaker on MPs
Top leaders will gather at former PM Vajpayee’s residence for formulating their stand at the meeting, reports Shekhar Iyer.
The BJP and the NDA are to tell the all-party meet called by the Lok Sabha Speaker on Wednesday that they strongly support Parliament’s ethics committee examining all cases of wrong doings by MPs and recommending action against them.
The NDA leaders will gather at former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee’s residence for formulating their stand at the meet.
BJP’s deputy leader in Lok Sabha V K Malhotra said neither the party nor the NDA favoured any leniency for the MPs caught in gross acts of wrong doing.
“We would like all cases –not just the case involving the MPs accused of human trafficking—to be examined by the ethics panel,” he said.
He said many MPs belonging to different parties were facing CBI probe and some were in jail too. “There should be fair and equal treatment for all MPs.”
Other BJP leaders said the only question was that Parliament should not be seen as punishing a MP if the case against him was pending before a court of law. “Can Parliament punish someone who is later acquitted by the court?” said a party leader. “We will have to wait in such cases.”
Though the all-party meet is a customary exercise on the eve of resumption of Parliament’s budget session, the arrest of BJP MP Babulal Katara and police notices to three BSP MPs in connection with human trafficking are likely to dominate the deliberation.
