BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi (File photo)
Most parties refused to join panelNEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday constituted a parliamentary committee to scrutinise three bills seeking removal of PM, CMs and ministers if they are under arrest for 30 consecutive days on serious criminal charges, with only three opposition members being part of the 31-MP panel after most opposition parties refused to join as a mark of protest against the proposed laws.Second-term BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi will head the joint parliamentary committee which has 21 members from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha.It includes 15 BJP MPs, including Ravi Shankar Prasad, Bhartruhari Mahtab and Anurag Thakur, 11 from its allies such as TDP, JDU, LJP(RV), Shiv Sena, NCP and AIADMK, and three opposition MPs in Supriya Sule of NCP-SP, Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM and Harsimrat Kaur Badal of Shiromani Akali Dal.Others members are S Niranjan Reddy of YSR Congress, a party unaffiliated to either the governing NDA or opposition but which has often backed govt in Parliament, & nominated MP Sudha Murty.The committee has been constituted following an unusually long delay as the opposition INDIA bloc, barring NCP-SP, after informal deliberation decided to be not part of the panel, leading to a fresh search.Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju and the speaker had reached out to Congress and other opposition parties. While Congress did weigh both the choices, it finally decided to join its regional allies in keeping away from the committee in a show of opposition unity. Congress and several other regional parties like TMC and DMK have termed the proposed laws as against the Constitution and federalism, and aimed at “destabilising” state govts run by opposition parties.Senior Congress MP Manickam Tagore was quick to slam the panel as “not a Joint Parliamentary Committee – it’s a JPC of BJP & its B-Team”, noting that over 340 MPs of the INDIA bloc are boycotting it. “This JPC is nothing but a rubber stamp for Modi’s unconstitutional agenda… 340 MPs have boycotted because this govt formed the JPC without consensus or parliamentary ethics,” he said.Home minister Amit Shah had introduced the Constitution (One Hundred And Thirtieth Amendment) Bill 2025, the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill 2025; and the J&K Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2025 in LS on Aug 20, and the House decided to send them to a parliamentary committee on his request.Its introduction in LS and RS the next day witnessed fierce protests from opposition MPs who tore copies of bills & demanded the proposed laws be withdrawn. The bills have proposed that if PM, Union ministers or CMs are arrested or detained in custody for 30 consecutive days for offences that attract a jail term of at least five years, they will lose their position on the 31st day.
