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New Delhi, Oct 11: Janata Dal-United’s rebel MPs Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar are likely to be disqualified from Rajya Sabha soon. Vice-President and Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu is expected to take a final decision on JD-U’s demand to disqualify Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar soon, an Indian Express report said. Naidu may refer the matter to the Ethics Committee for the preliminary examination.
The JD-U, in September, wrote to Venkaiah Naidu seeking disqualification of its members Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar Ansari, whom, it said, had “voluntarily given up the party membership”. Sabha Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, the JD-U floor leader in the Rajya Sabha, sought their disqualification under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. The Rajya Sabha secretariat had served Yadav and Anwar notices last month to submit their replies.
Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar submitted their replies to the Rajya Sabha Chairman on September 22. “They have argued that they are the ones running the real JD-U. They have also referred to our national executive meeting held here recently. The reply runs into over 400 pages,” Javed Raza, a general secretary of the rebel faction, told PTI.
The Nitish Kumar-led faction had urged that they had violated its directives and taken part in meetings of opposition parties. Sharad Yadav, in turn, has claimed that he had stuck to the party’s earlier line to oppose the BJP and it was Kumar who went against it by joining hands with the saffron party.
According to reports, an investigation won’t be conducted as it wasn’t a case of corruption or irregularity. “The two sides had publicly split and the chairman had to adjudicate the matter in the light of the legal provisions clearly laid,” the Indian Express reported quoting sources.
“If any question arises as to whether a member of the House has become subject to disqualification under the Tenth Schedule, the question is referred to the Chairman, Rajya Sabha, and his decision is final. All proceedings in this regard are deemed to be proceedings of Parliament within the meaning of Article 122 of the Constitution and the jurisdiction of courts in respect of any matter connected with the disqualification of a member of the House under that Schedule is barred,” according to the Rajya Sabha at work.
Clause 2 (1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule says that “a member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House if he has voluntarily given up his membership of such political party….”
Sharad Yadav turned rebel in the JD-U after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar recently broke ranks with the Grand Alliance and joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to form the new government in the state.
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