Rebel MPs of TMC, YSRC get LS Speaker's notice

New Delhi: In the latest development in the matter of disqualification of sitting MPs for switching their side, the Lok Sabha Secretariat on Thursday issued letters to Sisir Adhikari, Sunil Kumar Mondal, and K Raghu Rama Krishna Raju in response to petitions received under the anti-defection law by Trinamool Congress and YSR Congress Party.

As per sources, all the three MPs have been asked to give their response on petitions, which have been submitted by their parties to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, within 15 days of the receipt of letters.

The Lok Sabha Speaker has issued notices to Adhikari and Mondal after Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Leader of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Lok Sabha, had urged Om Birla to take action on the petitions he had earlier filed seeking disqualification of Sisir Adhikari and Sunil Mondal, who had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the recent Bengal assembly polls.

Mondal, who was elected to Lok Sabha from the East Burdwan seat on TMC ticket, had joined the BJP in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in December last year. Sisir Adhikari, who did not formally join BJP but shared the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the assembly election campaign, is the MP from Contai in East Midnapore district.

In the matter of Krishna Raju, the Lok Sabha Speaker has issued notice to the rebel MP on the petition submitted by YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) seeking the Speaker's intervention over the disqualification of the rebel MP from Narsapuram constituency and cancellation of his parliamentary membership.