BJP leaders protest, walk out of House panel meet

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders staged protests and briefly walked out from a parliamentary committee meeting on Wednesday that discussed Covid-19 vaccine development and genome sequencing of the coronavirus and its variants, people familiar with the matter said.

The BJP members opposed any discussion on the vaccine policy at the meeting of the science and technology committee of Parliament.

At one point, the BJP’s Sakshi Maharaj insisted on voting, but panel chairman and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh did not agree, a person with knowledge of the developments said.

Another person aware of the matter said: “Jairam told the members that committees are run by consensus and not vote. He even said that he would not allow vote even if it is the last meeting for him as the chairman.” An MP present at the meeting said Ramesh even told them that they were free to pass a no-confidence motion against him as the chair, and can complain to the Rajya Sabha chairman, but the meeting must take place. The panel invited K Vijaya Raghavan, VK Paul and members of the departments of biotechnology and scientific and industrial research for the meeting.