Speaker to call party leaders meet to discuss Katara issue

New Delhi, Apr 25 (UNI) An all party meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today decided to call another conclave of leaders of various parties next week to arrive at a consensus on issues relating to moral turpitude of Members of Parliament.

Announcing this to mediapersons, Mr Chatterjee said he would announce his decision on the issue relating to the arrest of BJP MP Babubhai Katara, allegedly involved in human trafficking, tomorrow in the Lok Sabha. "Wait till tomorrow for an announcement.

I can't announce any decision now. It would not be fair to do so." The Speaker said all parties had taken Mr Katara's issue very seriously and no party wanted the issue to be ignored as an impression to this effect was being sought to be prevailed. "There is no question of any party or Parliament ignoring the issue." He termed the incident as unfortunate and a matter of concern for all.

It was due to this reason that he had decided to call a separate meeting of leaders to consider issues relating to allegations against members of Parliament.

Mr Chatterjee recalled that Parliament had taken strong action against the 11 MPs who were involved in cash-for-query scam. He said the acts of some MPs should not be generalised or else it would bring a bad image to Parliament putting the very Parliamentary system under a cloud.

The Speaker, however, parried a question as to whether the Katara issue would be referred to the Ethics Committee of Parliament.

In the meeting, several parties including BJP and CPI took exception to Finance Minister P Chidambaram going on a foreign tour from May 6 to 10 during the Parliament session due to which all financial business would have to be completed by May 3. Both BJP Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha V K Malhotra and CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said that Parliament should be given importance over all other business.

Both the leaders, however, differed on whether Katara's issue should be referred to the Ethics Committee. While Mr Malhotra wanted that all issues relating to corruption involving MPs, including Katara's, should be clubbed and sent to the Ethics Committee, Mr Dasgupta opposed it saying that Katara's and tainted Ministers case could not be treated equally.

Apart from the financial business, price rise, SEZ, farmers plight, role of judiciary and OBC reservation are among the issues that will dominate the discussions during the second phase of the Budget Session of Parliament beginning tomorrow.

UNI