Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has apologised for his comments on the Rajya Sabha.
At a programme on electoral reforms here on Sunday, he called for abolition of the Upper House. He termed the Rajya Sabha a colonial construct where money decided the induction of members, citing the case of Vijay Mallya. His comments triggered a controversy.
Late on Sunday night, at a press conference Mr. Chouhan apologised for his remarks. “I had simply expressed concerns over maintaining the dignity of the Rajya Sabha. It is a constitutional institution and I respect it and all its members. If my comments hurt anybody, I apologise,” he said. Mr. Chouhan had said elections to the Rajya Sabha needed to be done away with and replaced with a quota system similar to the one pertaining to the inclusion of Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha. He noted politics was shamed consistently with the open “horse-trading” of MLAs.
