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LS admonishes Kashyap, adjourns

      New Delhi: Amidst noisy protests by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Lok Sabha on Tuesday moved the motion to admonish its former Secretary General, Subash C Kashyap for "gross breach of privilege" and "contempt of the House" for his "reckless" remarks against Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. The motion to admonish Kashyap was moved by the Leader of the House, Pranab Mukherjee and was passed by a voice vote, minutes before the House was adjourned sine die.

    The Committee of Privileges, in its report tabled on May 19, had found that the former Secretary General has committed a gross breach of privilege and contempt of the House by ''imputing motives to the Speaker in discharging his duties and casting reflections on his impartiality.'' As soon as Chatterjee announced the start of Question Hour proceedings, BJP member Maneka Gandhi raised the Kashyap issue by asking how the House could take a unilateral decision on such an important issue, and wanted an immediate discussion to be held. Chatterjee rejected the demand, saying prior permission had not been sought. The BJP members were immediately up on their feet and began raising slogans. They later trooped into the Well of the House. BJP Leader of the House Vijay Kumar Malhotra said it was strange that none of the NDA members were informed of such an important meeting where the government took the unilateral decision and sought a discussion. The House was adjourned twice today over the Kashyap issue before finally being adjourned sine die when the House reassembled for the third time. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Leader of the Opposition L K Advani were present in the House when the motion was adopted while Congress President Sonia Gandhi came minutes before the over three-month long budget session of the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die.

Is BJP planning to bring Kashyap to RS?  (Go To Top)
by Pankaj Yadav

       New Delhi: In what is being described as the first instance in parliamentary history of the country, the Lok Sabha today passed a resolution admonishing former secretary general Subash Kashyap for "gross breach of privilege" and "contempt of the House" for his "reckless" remarks against Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. But, over the past few days speculations have been rife in the corridors of power that the BJP was mulling over giving a Rajya Sabha berth to the "RSS man" Kashyap. Though, the party is keeping an "official secrecy" about the move saying - "where is the vacancy at present". A reliable source in the BJP's media cell also said that in near future Kashyap might be elected to the Upper House by the BJP "because of his closeness with RSS quarters". Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi also made a passing remark today regarding this while addressing the customary press conference at the end of the Budget Session. He said, "one can understand the motive behind creating the ruckus by the BJP inside the Lok Sabha over the Subhuas Kashyap admonition issue...because he is a RSS man." In a related development, the BJP today resolved to consult other parties and evolve a consensus regarding bringing a no-confidence motion against the Speaker, Somanth Chatterjee "because of his biased attitude" in his functioning. The idea was mooted in the BJP parliamentary party held this morning inside the Parliament House, said the party spokesman VK Malhotra.

BJP members resign over Kashyap issue (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: All the four Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members of Lok Sabha's Privileges Committee resigned from it on Tuesday in protest against the motion moved in Lok Sabha to admonition its former Secretary General, Subhash C Kashyap. Moreover, the party is also contemplating withdrawal from other Committees and even a no-confidence motion against Lower House Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. The four BJP members in the Privileges Committee -- Kishan Singh Sangwan, Rajendrasinh Ranana, Ananth Kumar Hegde and Virendra Kumar -- have resigned, said BJP Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, V K Malhotra. Upset over the Speaker's conduct in the House today, Malhotra said that the conduct had only accentuated the demand to move a no-confidence motion against the Speaker. Malhotra had said in the House that it was strange that none of the NDA members were informed of such an important meeting where the government took the unilateral decision to reprimand the former Secretary General of the Lower House, Kashyap, on charges of 'grave misconduct'. The BJP was also contemplating withdrawal of its MPs from other Parliamentary Committees as their views were being ignored. The four BJP Members of the Privileges Committee had yesterday demanded withdrawal of the report and inclusion of their "strong dissent" in it. In a letter to the Committee Chairman V Kishore Chandra S Deo, the four MPs have expressed their distress over the manner in which the entire procedure leading to the recommendation was followed. The BJP members claimed that when the third report was circulated for consideration by the Members, "the recommendation was to treat the matter as closed by cautioning Kashyap to more careful in future".