NEW DELHI: Indicating the governing alliance’s support behind BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s notice for a ‘substantive motion’ against Rahul Gandhi to expel him from Lok Sabha, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said on Friday that govt has dropped the idea to bring a proposal of its own against the leader of the opposition and will consult Speaker Om Birla on the next move once a decision on Dubey’s motion is made.“The motion govt wanted to bring has been dropped,” he said, noting that Dubey has given a notice for his motion against Gandhi for his alleged bid to ‘destabilise’ the country and attack its institutions in league with “anti-India” forces. The BJP MP has also asked that Gandhi be barred from contesting elections.Once the motion is accepted, the matter may be referred to the privilege committee or ethics committee, or may be directly taken up for discussion in Lok Sabha, Rijiju said.Rijiju had earlier said govt will submit a notice for breach of privilege against Gandhi for levelling serious allegations against PM Narendra Modi on the floor of the House in violation of rules and without authenticating his charges.He said Gandhi levelled a series of “baseless allegations”, including that the country has been sold, and raked up assertions made in an unpublished book of former army chief Gen (retd) M M Naravane in an illegal manner. Gandhi has struck a defiant tone, reiterating that he spoke the truth and accusing Modi of betraying the country’s interests in the trade agreement with the US. He has also been targeting the PM for his handling of conflict with China.Though his belligerent attack on the govt, of a piece with his hyper-aggressive campaign against BJP and Modi, has not paid much political dividend so far and has drawn fury from the governing alliance, the BJP-led NDA will be weighing its options against the issues political fallout.While cases exist of MPs facing corruption charges being expelled from Parliament at different points of time under ‘substantive motions’, which cover a wide range of matters that require voting, the kind of allegations against Gandhi place the issue in a different category.He was expelled from Lok Sabha in 2023 as well following conviction in a defamation case by a Gujarat court, but was reinstated after SC stayed the conviction.The fate of Dubey’s notice is likely to be decided once Parliament meets after the recess on March 9. As the first part of the Budget session ended on Friday, BJP slammed Gandhi’s conduct as “anarchic, undemocratic and politically uncivilised” in Parliament.“It is a matter of concern that Gandhi’s entire conduct is now becoming anarchic,” BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad said, alleging the Congress MP showed no respect for “norms, parliamentary procedures, constitutional proprietary and democratic traditions” during the session.
