After mulling over it for nearly a month, Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu is said to have decided to settle the question of disqualifying the two JD(U) rebels Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar himself, rather than send the matter to the parliamentary committee on privileges.
This essentially means that the disqualification process will be speeded up. Mr. Naidu’s decision is in line with the party’s demand that disqualification should not be delayed by sending it to the privileges committee.
Mr. Yadav and Mr. Anwar parted ways with JD(U) after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar broke away from the Mahagatbandhan to join hands with the BJP in July. JD (U) leaders R.C.P. Singh and Sanjay Jha had submitted a petition seeking disqualification of the rebels to the Rajya Sabha Chairman on September 5.
In the Rajya Sabha, there have been nine cases where parties have moved disqualification petitions against their members. Out of these, seven were referred to the privileges committee and two members tendered their resignations before it could reach that stage.
“After going through these seven cases, it was felt that privileges committee did not do anything substantial. They only went through the petitioner’s contestations and the response of the member concerned,” said a senior official from the Rajya Sabha Chairman’s office.
