JOIN USBJP releases list of lawmakers who were disqualified in past
The BJP on Monday released a list of over 12 lawmakers, including five MPs who faced disqualification in the past and questioned why there were no protests and black clothes seen at that time. The party fielded senior leader and union minister Piyush Goyal, who said that some of these lawmakers were prominent Opposition leaders including former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav and that the Congress’s protest was to save Rahul Gandhi.
“(RJD supremo) Lalu Prasad Yadav and JD(U)’s Jagdish Sharma were disqualified from the Lok Sabha (in 2013). Congress Rajya Sabha MP Rasheed Masood (2013), DMK Rajya Sabha MP TM Selvaganapathy (2014), and NCP’s Mohammed Faizal (2023) are some prominent cases,” said Goyal. “But there was no outcry at that time.”
Prominent in the list of lawmakers are former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa who was ousted from the state assembly in 2017 due to a conviction in the Rs 100 crore disproportionate assets case as well as SP MLA Azam Khan who was disqualification from the UP assembly in 2023 for being convicted under section 353 of the IPC for a dharna. Apart from that, the list also had the names of Jharkhand Party MLA Enos Ekka, All Jharkhand Students Union’s Kamal Kishore Bhagat and Shiv Sena MLA Babanrao Gholap who were disqualified in 2014, 2015 and 2014 respectively.
Two lawmakers from the BJP also featured in the list, including Bijawar MLA Asha Rani and Ichalkaranji MLA Suresh Halvankar who faced disqualification from the Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra assemblies in 2013 and 2014.
Goyal said that Speaker Om Birla was following due procedure. “The Congress lawmakers are now allowing the house to function to justify insults that Rahul Gandhi has made to the OBC community,” Goyal said.
On Sunday, the Congress fielded two of its chief ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel, both from the OBC community, to defend Gandhi’s remarks which they said were not directed towards any community. Goyal said that both the chief ministers were burdened with their duty to their party. “They must be hurt as well, but they cannot voice themselves,” Goyal said.