IT HOUSE PANEL MEET ON PEGASUS CALLED OFF AFTER BJP MPS WALK OUT

NEW DELHI: The meeting of the standing committee on information technology led by Congress member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday to discuss the controversial Pegasus Project had to be called off due a lack of quorum, after Bharatiya Janata Party MPs refused to participate and staged a walk out.

The committee needs at least nine members to be present in order to function.

Meanwhile, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey moved a privilege motion seeking removal of Tharoor as the head of the IT panel.

NEW DELHI: The meeting of the standing committee on information technology led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday to discuss the controversial Pegasus had to be called off due a lack of quorum, as Bharatiya Janata Party MPs refused to participate and staged a walk out.

“@BJP4India members come to the IT Committee & refuse to sign the attendance register to deny a quorum. Further all the witnesses called from MiEIT & MHA wrote in excuses & didn’t appear as called to testify. It’s very clear that #Pegasus is a no go area for this government,” Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, who is a member of the panel, said. The committee needs at least nine members to be present in order to function. The panel has 21 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha, of which nearly half are from the ruling party. BJP leaders walked out the meeting, after staging a similar boycott on Tuesday. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had said that participating in meeting when House was in session was not correct.

Meanwhile, Dubey moved privilege motion seeking removal of Tharoor as the head of the said committee. Invoking the rule 222 of “Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha” which says that a “member may, with the consent of the Speaker, raise a question involving a breach of privilege either of a member or of the House or of a Committee.”