The Hindu : National : Keep your word, Shekhawat tells BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 28, 2006

National

National

Keep your word, Shekhawat tells BJP

Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: Hot words were exchanged between the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and some senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders here on Thursday after the Opposition leaders wanted to give a go by to commitment made in his chamber in the morning that the House would first take up the Parliament Prevention of Disqualification (Amendment) Bill before resuming the discussion on terrorism and Mumbai blasts that could not be completed on Wednesday.

Mr. Shekhawat insisted that the BJP keep the commitment, which some members including Murli Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Arun Shourie tried to scuttle with some help from the Trinamul Congress member Dinesh Trivedi.

However, Mr. Shekhawat said: "I have taken the decision and it is final. Parties should stick to the understanding reached in the chambers."

He insisted that the Bill, popularly called the Office-of-Profit legislation, would be taken up first. Apparently, Leader of the Opposition Jaswant Singh was also in favour of the BJP keeping its word.

"At the morning meeting in the chambers of Mr. Shekhawat, party leaders had committed themselves to taking up the Office-of-Profit bill first, but later they tried to get out of that commitment," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said on Thursday.

"This led to two adjournments when the matter was sorted out with the Chairman firm that parties should stick to the commitment made at the meeting," he added.

Some in the BJP were keen to ensure that the Bill be pushed beyond the July 31 deadline set by the Election Commission for the West Bengal government to send it information on offices of profit held by seven MPs of the Left parties. They believed that if a legislation is not in place by that deadline, the Commission could embarrass the West Bengal government and the Left MPs, including Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, although they all insist that they are not holding any office of profit that could lead to their disqualification.

There were reports — later denied — that the tussle between Mr. Shekhawat and some senior BJP leaders led to such unpleasantness between them that Mr. Shekhawat held out a veiled threat that he would rather not hold that office than watch the party leadership change its stand and not honour the commitments made in his chamber. Neither Mr. Shekhawat nor anyone in the BJP was willing to comment on it.

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