Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha’s suspension from the Rajya Sabha was lifted on the first day of the parliament session, following a motion by BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao.
Chadha had been suspended for 115 days – from August 11 – for a “breach of privilege”.
He had allegedly proposed the four Rajya Sabha MPs, including two from the ruling BJP and without their consent, as members of a panel to study the Delhi services ordinance (now law), which gives the Centre control over bureaucrats in the city, and which led to a row between the AAP and the centre.
“On August 11, I was suspended from the Rajya Sabha. I went to the Supreme Court… the court took cognisance and now my suspension has been revoked, after 115 days. I want to thank the court and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar…” Chadha said in a video statement shared by ANI.
The AAP leader had refuted the allegations and accused the BJP of targeting him because it could not accept that a young parliamentarian (Chadha is 34) had taken on its tallest leaders.
“The BJP’s mantra is ‘repeat a lie a thousand times, and it becomes the truth’. Following this mantra, a misinformation campaign was launched against me,” he said as he challenged the ruling party to “show any piece of paper where I have forged anyone’s signature”.
Waving a the Rajya Sabha rulebook, he also pointed out there was no need, under current rules, for a MP’s signature or written consent to propose his/her name for a select committee.
Chadha had also moved the Supreme Court to challenge his suspension.
On October 30 the court expressed its concern over his indefinite suspension and its impact on the right of the people of his state (Chadha is the Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab) to be represented.
bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said, “Such kind of indefinite suspension will have ramifications on the people whose constituency is going unrepresented? Where is the power of the privilege committee to indefinitely suspend the member?”
Days later, in another hearing, the court suggested Chadha apologise as a “way forward”.
Chadha was the second AAP MP to be suspended from Rajya Sabha during the Monsoon session.
Senior leader Sanjay Singh – who was arrested on October 4 by the Enforcement Directorate, in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case – was suspended from the Rajya Sabha on July 24.
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