Cash wad row: Dhankhar orders probe, Singhvi says bizarre to politicise it

A wad of cash was allegedly recovered from the Rajya Sabha seat of Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

New Delhi: Recovery of a wad of Rs 500 notes from the seat allotted to Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi by security staff created a furore in the House on Friday with the ruling BJP and the Opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc trading barbs and angry words at each other.

While Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar announced that a probe has already been ordered, Singhvi told reporters that he too wanted a probe into the matter as he was hearing about the discovery for the first time when it was raised in the House and found it "bizarre" that the issue was being politicised.

The issue came to light when Dhankhar informed the House during Zero Hour that "during a routine anti-sabotage checks after adjournment of the House, a wad of currency notes was apparently recovered by security officials from seat no 222 presently allotted to Abhishek Manu Singhvi, elected from the state of Telangana" and a probe is underway. He also said it was not clear if the currency notes were "genuine or not".

He said he was expecting someone would claim the currency notes, but no one has so far. "Does it reflect the state of the economy that people can afford to forget it," he said.

Singhvi, who was not present in the House when Dhankhar made the remarks, said outside that he heard about it for the first time now.

"I carry one Rs 500 note when I go to Rajya Sabha. First time I heard of it. I reached inside the House at 12:57 PM. The House rose at 1 PM. From 1 PM to 1.30 PM I sat with Ayodhya Prasad Rami Reddy in the canteen and had lunch. At 1.30 PM, I left Parliament. My total stay in the house yesterday was for three minutes and in the Parliament for 30 minutes," he said.

"I find it bizarre that even on such issues politics is raised. Of course there should be an inquiry as to how people can come and put anything anywhere on any seat. It means that each one must have a seat where the seat itself can be locked and the key can be carried home by the MP. Because everybody can then do things on the seat and then make allegations about it," Singhvi said adding, "if it was not tragic and serious it would be comic . Everyone should cooperate to get to the bottom of this. And, if there is a failure on the part of security agencies, that must also be completely exposed." Singhvi said.

Soon after Dhankhar made the remarks in the House, BJP MPs were on their feet protesting against the incident.

While DMK's Tiruchi Siva alleged that a Minister was prodding BJP MPs to protest, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said the Chairman should not have named the MP without an investigation being completed even as Dhankhar clarified that he has not made any reflection on the member while welcoming the probe.

Leader of the House J P Nadda claimed that the Opposition showed eagerness on "some issues" while wanting to cover up other issues. Kharge retorted, "Why is Nadda saying we are trying to suppress the matter? You do that, we don't do that."

Responding to Kharge, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said why should there be an objection to the name being taken when the Chairman has pointed out the seat number and the member who occupies that. "Carrying a bundle of currency notes is not appropriate," he said while Nadda said it is a "very serious" issue and it brings disrepute to the House.

Senior Minister Piyush Goyal said, "We don't know what else may be found on that (Opposition) side" and added that the Opposition was stalling Parliament over 'fake narratives".