Lok Sabha Privileges Committee to hear Sisir Adhikari disqualification plea

By Payal Mehta
New Delhi [India], October 1 : The Parliamentary panel for Privileges has summoned Lok Sabha member of Parliament Sisir Adhikari to appear before it on October 12 in reference to the plea filed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) demanding his disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP.
In June this year, TMC parliamentary party leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay had written to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding Adhikari's disqualification citing certain anti-party activities. The Speaker has further sent it to the parliamentary panel for its examination.
Most recently, Sisir Adhikari defied the whip of TMC and went ahead to cast vote during the Vice President of India election which was held on August 6.
Mamata Banerjee's TMC had announced that they would abstain from voting during this election. Abhishek Banerjee, the all-India general secretary of the party and Lok Sabha MP, said: "The question of supporting the NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar does not arise, and the way the opposition candidate (Congress leader Margaret Alva) was decided without proper consultation and deliberation with the TMC that has 35 MPs in both the Houses, we have decided unanimously to abstain from the voting process."
National Democratic Alliance's Vice Presidential nominee Jagdeep Dhankhar was elected as the 14th Vice President of India as he defeated Margaret Alva by a thumping 346 votes.
The TMC took huge offence to the senior Adhikari's presence at a rally in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi just before the 2021 West Bengal Assembly Elections.
Even if Sisir's son has joined BJP and is presently the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, the father still has not jumped ship to the BJP.
"Sisir Adhikari has been asked to be present before the panel and he will be giving his verbal testimony on why the disqualification notice should not be accepted against him," a source from the Committee aware of the developments told ANI.
Meanwhile, adding more to the TMC headache, Sisir Adhikari was seen sharing the same dais with BJP MLAs at a Durga Puja in his home in Contai a couple of days ago.