Opposition has asked why Ramesh Bidhuri and Pratap Simha have not faced any action
Amid the massive row over the suspension spree of MPs over their conduct in the House, Opposition parties have questioned why two BJP members in Lok Sabha have not faced any action yet despite being at the centre of huge controversies.
These two BJP MPs are Ramesh Bidhuri and Pratap Simha. While Mr Bidhuri had used communal and derogatory language for Amroha MP Danish Ali, Mr Simha's office had assigned a visitor pass to one of the intruders who trespassed into the Lok Sabha chamber last week.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on X that 141 MPs have been suspended because they wanted a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the security breach and six intruders have been booked under an anti-terror law.
"The BJP MP who facilitated the entry of the intruders, remains scot-free and has not yet been questioned. What sort of investigation is this? Why haven't senior officers responsible for Parliamentary security made accountable? Heads should have rolled in by now," Mr Kharge said.
The Congress chief asked who is responsible for the intelligence failure in pre-empting the December 13 intrusion. "Instead of punishing the people in high ranks for this shameful security lapse, they have snatched away the democratic rights of MPs, thereby escaping accountability," he said.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who is among the suspended MPs, said the "Modi ecosystem" has been "galvanised on the so-called mimicry non-issue, while it remains silent on the real issue of why and how a BJP MP from Mysuru facilitated entry of two intruders into Lok Sabha on December 13th".
Mr Bidhuri is facing a probe by the Lok Sabha privileges committee for his derogatory remarks against Mr Ali. Earlier this month, the two MPs appeared before the panel. Mr Ali has been accused by BJP members of making a derogatory remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had expressed regret over Mr Bidhuri's remarks and these were expunged from the proceedings. According to reports, Mr Bidhuri, too, had regretted his comments in his meeting with the privileges panel.
Mr Ali, who is among the suspended MPs, told NDTV that the new definition of New India is that those using slangs will sit inside Parliament and those asking question will be outside. "The decorum of the House is not disrupted when questions are asked. It is disrupted when a BJP MP uses slangs," said Mr Ali, who has been suspended by the Bahujan Samaj Party for alleged anti-party activities.
Mr Ali asked why no action has been taken against Mr Simha yet. "The idea is to crucify those asking questions to the government. I was not even present in the session and they added my name to the suspension list," he said.
Saugata Ray, MP from Congress's INDIA bloc ally Trinamool Congress, said the mass suspension of MPs was "against democracy". "This shouldn't have been done. We were demanding the suspension of BJP MP (Pratap Simha), but they instead suspended us," he said.
According to reports, Mr Simha has told the Speaker that the father of one of the intruders, Manoranjan D, was from his constituency and had asked for a visitor's pass to visit the new Parliament building.