Bills seeking PM, CM's removal for criminal cases | I.N.D.I.A. bloc member NCP(SP) signs up as parliamentary panel set up

New Delhi: The Joint Committee of Parliament to examine the contentious Bills for removal of top political executives detained in jail for at least 30 days in a row was constituted with NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) breaking ranks with I.N.D.I.A. bloc, which had announced a boycott, to join the panel.

The setting up of the panel, which was pending since August as the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, barring NCP (SP), refused to name any MP, came 84 days after the Parliament cleared a motion to send it for scrutiny of a panel of MPs.

BJP's Aparajita Sarangi will head the 31-member panel with 26 NDA MPs, including 15 from BJP, four from the Opposition -- NCP (SP), AIMIM, Akali Dal and YSR Congress and an unattached nominated member Sudha Murthy. From Karnataka, JD(S) MP M Mallesh Babu is also a member of the committee.

Except four MPs from the Opposition, all others in the panel are aligned to the government. Supriya Sule from NCP(SP), Harsimrat Kaur from Akali Dal, S Niranjan Reddy from YSR Congress and Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM are the Opposition MPs in the panel.

Incidentally, BJD and BRS are also not represented in the panel. While the BRS was not invited to join the panel, sources said BJD did not respond to a communication seeking an MP to be nominated to the panel.

The number of Lok Sabha MPs in the panel is 21 and Rajya Sabha 10 in the panel, which is mandated to submit its report on the last day of the first week of the upcoming Winter Session. However, the deadline for the panel is likely to be extended.

From the NDA, there is one each member from allies TDP, JD(U), Shiv Sena, Jana Sena Party, Sikkim Kranti Morcha, NCP, JD(S), UPPL, LJP (RV), AGP and AIADMK. The BJP MPs include Ravi Shankar Prasad, Bhartruhari Mahtab, Anurag Thakur, Purushotham Rupala, K Laxman, Brijlal, Neeraj Shekhar and Ujjwal Nikam, a nominated member who joined the saffron party.

The constitution of the panel had run into rough weather as the I.N.D.I.A bloc had announced a boycott of the panel. Trinamool Congress, AAP, Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena (UBT) had announced the boycott within days of the passage of motion in Lok Sabha following which other partners also followed suit.

There has been a difference of opinion in the I.N.D.I.A. bloc over not participating in the proceedings of the Joint Committee with parties like CPI(M) preferring to be part of it and the Congress remaining divided over the issue. CPI(M), which was favouring participating in the Joint Committee proceedings, decided to stick with the decision of I.N.D.I.A partners.

The motion to set up a Joint Committee to examine the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill and The Union Territories Administration (Amendment) Bill was cleared by Lok Sabha on August 20 and a day later in Rajya Sabha.