Kharge writes to Naidu over ministers' remarks on Sonia Gandhi

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday shot off a letter to Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu urging him to expunge remarks made by Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal on Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the House.

He also demanded that the Ministers should apoligise for violating the conventions of Parliament. The letter came a day after Nirmala and Goyal targeted Sonia by demanding her apology for Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's controversial remarks on President Droupadi Murmu.

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Kharge, in his letter, said one of the time-honoured convention is that "reflections or critical remarks" should not be made on the other House or members of the other House.

He went on to quote a ruling of the then Rajya Sabha Chairman R Venkataraman, who later became President, in 1987 when he said, "no person who is not a member of this House (Rajya Sabha) can be referred to in the House in a derogatory manner or in any other way affecting his reputation."

Kharge noted that even a privilege issue could not be raised directly in one House against the members of the other House. In this regard, he said, a procedure has been laid down based on a report of Joint Sitting of Committees of Privileges of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha which was presented to both Houses on 23 August, 1954 and later adopted by the Houses in December, 1954.

"As per this procedure, when a question of breach of privilege or contempt of the House is raised in either of the House in which a member, officer or servant of the other House is involved, the procedure followed is that the Presiding Officer of the House in which the question of privilege is raised, refers the case to the Presiding Officer of the other House", Kharge said.

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He said he mentioned this procedure to emphasise the sanctity of sovereignty of each House of Parliament and its members.

"Hence mentioning and making remarks in regard to a member of the Lower House in the Upper House is a gross violation of the time-honoured conventions. Needless to mention, as Chairman of this august House, your good self would appreciate the need for adherence to well-established Parliamentary conventions and practices," he said.

"In view of my aforementioned submissions, I request you to kindly expunge the remarks made by Sitharaman and Goyal vis-a-vis Smt Sonia Gandhi in the House yesterday, 28 July, 2022. I also request that they tender their apology for their violation of sacrosanct conventions of the House," Kharge said in his letter. (ENDS)