Bills passed after no-trust motion constitutionally suspect: Manish Tewari

Congress MP Manish Tewari on Sunday claimed that all Bills passed after the no-confidence motion was admitted in the Lok Sabha are “constitutionally suspect” and asserted that any substantive legislative business must succeed the outcome of the motion, not precede it.

The former Union minister also said the 10-day period for scheduling a discussion on the no-confidence motion tabled in the Lok Sabha cannot be used to “steamroll” Bills.

The Lok Sabha MP’s assertion comes as the Bill to replace the Delhi services ordinance is set to come up in the House this week. In an interview with a leading news agency, Tewari said once the no-confidence motion has been tabled in the Lok Sabha, any legislation or material business brought before the House is “completely in violation of morality, propriety and parliamentary conventions”.

He claimed the very legality of all the legislations which have been passed in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya

Sabha after the no-confidence motion was admitted would have to be examined by a court of law as to whether they were legally passed or not.

All legislative business transacted after the no-confidence motion was tabled is “constitutionally suspect”, he claimed. On the BJP comparing the 2018 no-confidence motion against the Centre govt and the massive mandate it got in the 2019 elections with the current scenario, Tewari said, “If history repeats itself once, it is a tragedy and if it does so twice, it is a farce.” A no-confidence motion by the Congress on behalf of the opposition alliance INDIA against the government was admitted in the

ok Sabha amid concerted efforts by the anti-BJP bloc to force Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak on the contentious Manipur issue in Parliament. Asked about the numbers not adding up for the INDIA bloc for the no-confidence motion, Tewari said it was not a question of numbers but of morality. “What has happened in Manipur and what is continuing to happen there is absolutely reprehensible. There is a BJP govt in the state, there is a BJP government at the Centre. Therefore, somebody needs to take responsibility,” Tewari.

He said opposition expected PM to make a suo motu statement in both Houses of Parliament on the “extremely critical situation” in Manipur and that statement would have been succeeded by a discussion.