Who left Currency Notes in Parliament: To name or not to name?
A wad of Rs 500 currency notes was found on the seat of Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi in Rajya Sabha. This sparked a row after the Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar announced that the currency notes were found on seat number 222 allotted to Singhvi, on Thursday evening after the House proceedings were over. The guards were conducting their regular security check inside the Rajya Sabha.
While BJP and its allies demanded a probe, Singhvi said, this was “bizarre” because he always carried one Rs 500 currency note whenever he goes to the House.
Singhvi said, he went inside the House at 12.57 pm on Thursday and the House was adjourned at 1 pm. He said, he then sat in the canteen till 1.30 pm and left Parliament. “There should be an inquiry as to how people can come and put anything anwhere, on any seat. Each seat should be locked so that the member can carry the key home. If anybody puts something on my seat and then levels allegations, it is not only tragic and serious, but comic”, Singhvi said.
Dhankar said he has ordered a probe since no member has come forward to claim the wad of currency notes. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallkarjun Kharge said, the chair should not have named the MP as an inquiry was already underway. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said, the chairman has done the right thing in mentioning the seat number and there was nothing wrong in it. Leader of the House J P Nadda described it as an “extraordinary and serious” incident.
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal raised an interesting point. He said, if Congress had objection to revealing the name of the MP even while the probe was on, then why were Opposition MPs staging daily protest about reports (relating to Adani) published in foreign newspapers? Goyal said, the Adani issue was still under investigation, but Congress MPs were raising the issue again and again.
Later, Singhvi met the Chairman and said the wad of currency notes does not belong to him.
The question raised by Congress is justified. Congress leaders are saying, how can anybody be named even when the inquiry is in progress. Singhvi has been claiming that the wad of notes does not belong to him, then why was his name mentioned? Why nobody waited till the inquiry was over?
BJP took the cue and countered saying why was Rahul Gandhi raising Adani’s name almost daily even while the probe was on. Adani says, all the allegations against him are baseless and false, then why can’t Congress wait for the probe to be over?
Congress has been caught in its own net. When Piyush Goyal suggested that all parties must reach a consensus not to name anybody in the House unless the probe was over, Congress leaders remained silent.
The question now is; Should there be separate rules for Congress? Should Congress be given a free licence to name anybody without completion of any probe? Congress leaders are finding it difficult to reply to this argument.