Cong, others may move motion on CJI removal

THE OPPN HAS SOUGHT A MEETING WITH VICE PRESIDENT NAIDU ON FRIDAY. IT HAS GOT SIGNATURES OF 67 RAJYA SABHA MEMBERS FOR THE MOTION

NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: After weeks of quiet preparation and intense public speculation, the Congress and at least four other opposition parties have intensified discussions and may move a motion in the Rajya Sabha for the removal of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, according to four leaders involved in the move.

The Congress’s Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad has also sought a meeting with Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, on Friday. The Opposition, one of the four leaders said on condition of anonymity, has collected 67 signatures of RS members for the motion which it may submit to Naidu.

The opposition parties’ move follows a Supreme Court order on Thursday that no further probe is needed in the death of CBI court judge BH Loya. Loya was presiding over the Sohrabuddin Shah encounter case in which Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah was one of those named. Loya died of a heart attack in Nagpur in December 2014. Shah was discharged from the case soon after. The Congress termed the decision a “sad letter day’ in Indian judicial history”. The BJP said the apex court’s ruling was a vindication of its stand that petitions seeking an independent probe into Loya’s death were part of a hatchet job targeting Shah.

Azad has first convened a meeting of opposition leaders at 11 am on Friday. Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, in Hyderabad for his party congress, said Azad had called him on Thursday morning and told him about a meeting of the opposition parties on the issue of removal of CJI. Yechury said, “He asked if anyone of us can be present at the meeting. It’s unlikely we can send anyone. We, however have signed the notice and are backing the move.” Yechury was among the prime initiators of the move to push the motion.

RS MP and Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja confirmed the meeting.