Adhir declines invitation as Congress calls Kovind panel 'systemic attempt to sabotage'; objects to Kharge's exclusion

Hours after the government announced his name as part of a high-level committee on simultaneous elections, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday night declined to be part of the panel, whose terms of reference has been “prepared in a manner to guarantee its conclusions”.

Chowdhury’s letter to Home Minister Amit Shah expressing “no hesitation whatsoever in declining to serve” on the committee, which he described as a “total eyewash”, came as the Congress described the Ramnath Kovind-led high level panel as “nothing but a systemic attempt to sabotage” country's Parliamentary democracy.

“Moreover, the sudden attempt to thrust a constitutionally suspect, pragmatically non feasible and logistically unimplementable idea on the nation, months before the general elections, raises serious concerns about ulterior motives of the government,” he said in the terse letter.

“Furthermore, I find that the current Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha (Mallikarjun Kharge) has been excluded. This is a deliberate insult to the system of Parliamentary democracy. In these circumstances, I have no option but to decline your invitation,” he added.

His letter came soon after Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal described the panel as “nothing but a systematic attempt to sabotage” India’s Parliamentary democracy and questioned the exclusion of Kharge while giving space to former LoP Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The party is opposed to simultaneous polls and had told a Parliamentary panel in 2015 that the proposal of holding simultaneous polls may sound “ideal” but it is “impractical, unworkable and can lead to a scenario where the necessary balance in Indian democracy, given the diversity of the country, is lost”.

"We believe that the High Level Committee on Simultaneous Elections is nothing but a systematic attempt to sabotage India's parliamentary democracy... First, they bring this gimmick to distract from the Adani Mega Scam, unemployment, price rise and other pressing issues of the people. Then, to make matters worse, they try to tilt this committee's balance by excluding fierce opponents," Venugopal added.

Not taking lightly the inclusion of Azad while omitting Kharge, who is also the party chief, Venugopal asked, "What is the reason behind Kharge ji's exclusion? Is a leader who has risen from such a humble background to the top post of India's oldest party, leading the entire opposition in the Upper House, an inconvenience for the BJP-RSS?"

In a post on 'X', he said it was a "shocking insult" to the Parliament that the BJP had appointed a former Leader of Opposition (Azad) to the committee instead of Kharge.

The panel, headed by former President Kovind, has Home Minister Amit Shah, former Finance Commission Chairman N K Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash C Kashyap, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari and senior lawyer Harish Salve as members besides Azad.