Disqualification proceedings against Sisir Adhikari, Raju gather pace
New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has referred petitions submitted by the Trinamool Congress and the YSR Congress under the anti-defection law against their respective leaders Sisir Adhikari and K Raghu Rama Krishna Raju to the Privileges Committee.
Adhikari, a Lok Sabha member from Kanthi in West Bengal, had quit the Trinamool Congress to join the BJP in March last year in the run-up to Assembly elections in the state.
Trinamool leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay had urged the Lok Sabha Speaker to disqualify the octogenarian leader Adhikari as a member of the House under the anti-defection law.
Raju, a Lok Sabha member from Narasapuram in Andhra Pradesh, too had rebelled against the YSRCP and was tipped to join the BJP, prompting YSRCP to move the Speaker for his removal under the anti-defection law.
A Lok Sabha Secretariat bulletin said the petition submitted by Sudip Bandyopadhyay, leader of Trinamool Congress in Lok Sabha against Adhikari, under paragraph 6 of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India and rule 6 of the Members of Lok Sabha (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1985 was referred by the Speaker to the Committee of Privileges on January 11 for a preliminary inquiry.
Bandyopadhyay, on more than one occasion, had written to the Lok Sabha Speaker urging him to disqualify the MP status of Adhikari.
He had also urged the same for MP Sunil Kumar Mondal who had also defected to BJP before the Assembly polls in Bengal.
"The two had won in TMC's symbol but had switched over to the BJP. Hence they do not have the right to continue as Lok Sabha MPs as they have left the party. Our Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay had written on more than one occasion to the Lok Sabha Speaker to disqualify their MP status. The ball has been set rolling after a long time," a senior TMC leader said.
Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: "Mondal, the MP from Burdwan Purba, had defected in December 2020."
A similar petition against Raju, submitted by YSRCP chief whip Margani Bharat, was referred to the Committee of Privileges on January 27 for a preliminary inquiry.
