Senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Pravin Togadia appeared before the Privileges Committee of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, following a complaint that he had allegedly made some adverse remarks against members of Parliament.
The complaint was lodged by Minister of State for Personnel and Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachauri.
The VHP leader is believed to have been subjected to a searching cross-examination by the committee members. The panel members include, among others, Rabha deputy chairman K Rahman Khan, Congress MPs R K Dhavan and Abhishek Singhvi and CPM’s Sitaram Yechuri.
Once known for his vitriolic speeches, Togadia seems to have mellowed down considerably of late. In fact, he has not been in the news much since he was arrested by the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan in 2003 for distributing trishuls.
The Privileges Committee also viewed the unedited and edited footage of videotapes of Star News’ sting operation (Operation Chakravyuh) supposedly showing BSP MP Isam Singh talking of commissions for allotting work out of the MP local area development fund scheme.
