JD(U) raises pitch for Sharad Yadav's disqualification from Rajya Sabha

The party has already approached the Rajya Sabha chairman, seeking disqualification of the two MPs.

New Delhi, Sep 19: In the wake of the Tamil Nadu Assembly speaker disqualifying 18 AIADMK MLAs from the House, the JD(U) on Tuesday demanded a similar action against two of its rebel MPs, Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar.

Janata Dal (United) chief spokesperson K C Tyagi, in a statement, said Yadav and Anwar acted in a manner, similar to that of the AIADMK MLAs, by indulging in "anti-party" activities. The party has already approached the Rajya Sabha chairman, seeking disqualification of the two MPs, who were yesterday given one more week by the House to respond to the JD(U)'s charges against them.

Tyagi also took exceptions to the statements of Congress leader Anand Sharma and CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury, both of whom have asked the chairman to refer the matter to the Ethics and Privileges Committee.

He said the Chairman, M Venkaiah Naidu, was a competent authority to take a decision on the matter and added that comments from "outsiders" were not "appreciable" with regard to such constitutional matters. Tyagi cited the Tamil Nadu Assembly speaker's decision to make his point and said the JD(U) welcomed the disqualification of the AIADMK MLAs from the House.

"This has again highlighted the wide powers conferred on a speaker under the 10th Schedule [Articles 102(2) and 192 (2)] of the Constitution. It gives him power to disqualify a member of the House, belonging to any political party, if the latter has voluntarily given up the membership of the party," he said.

The case in the Tamil Nadu Assembly fell under the above mentioned constitutional rule, which allowed the speaker to judge if any member had voluntarily relinquished his party membership, the JD(U) leader said. The rebels in the JD(U) were also facing a similar trial in the Rajya Sabha and Sharad Yadav was asked not to attend the Patna rally of the RJD on August 27 and warned that if he did so, he would be considered to have voluntarily given up the party membership, he added.

Tyagi also pointed out that the speaker of the Uttarakhand Assembly had, in 2016, disqualified nine rebel Congress MLAs under the anti-defection law. Eighteen AIADMK MLAs, said to be loyal to the party's deputy chief, TTV Dhinakaran, were yesterday disqualified by Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal amid a power tussle in the ruling party in the southern state.

PTI