The Hindu : Front Page : Privileges panels to summon Ronen Sen

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Wednesday, Oct 17, 2007
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Privileges panels to summon Ronen Sen

Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: The Privileges Committees of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will separately summon Ronen Sen, India’s Ambassador to the United States, in connection with the privilege issue pending against him for his “headless chickens” comment. He could be asked to appear before the Lok Sabha Committee on October 29.

Authoritative sources said the Lok Sabha Privileges Committee had sent the summons through the External Affairs Ministry.

The Rajya Sabha Privileges Committee, at its meeting here on Monday, also decided to issue the summons.

A senior member of one of the committees said that in all probability Mr. Sen would be asked to explain his conduct and apologise unconditionally. “There are precedents. Only recently in a case of privilege against Star TV, the committee accepted an apology and closed the matter. In its sting operation related to the MPLADS, an MP had been wrongly included although he had rejected the bribe offered. ”

Mr. Sen’s comment vis-À-vis the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal led to a controversy and MPs, cutting across party lines, demanded his recall, although within a day Mr. Sen’s apology was conveyed to Parliament by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. He also explained that the phrase was used for the media, and not for the MPs. This failed to assuage their feelings, and several notices of privilege were given. A member of the Rajya Sabha Committee indicated on Monday that the two committees would coordinate their efforts. On Tuesd y, it was clarified that Mr. Sen would be expected to appear before the 2 committees separately as the issues in the two Houses were slightly different. A senior member of the Rajya Sabha Committee said: “The offending news report had mentioned the former External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, who is a member of the Rajya Sabha. This particular issue is not before the Lok Sabha Committee.” However, the dates for the summons would be coordinated so that Mr. Sen would not have to come here from Washington twice.

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