Anurag Thakur files written complaint against TMC MP for smoking e-cigarette in House

BJP MP Anurag Thakur on Friday lodged a written complaint with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, demanding action against a Trinamool Congress lawmaker for allegedly smoking an e-cigarette inside the House.

Thakur on Thursday raised the issue in Lok Sabha without naming the Trinamool MP.

In his complaint, the Hamirpur MP said, "A Member of Parliament belonging to the All India Trinamool Congress was seen openly using an electronic cigarette while seated in the House during the sittings."

The act was "clearly visible" to several members present in the House, he added.

Thakur said the "open use" of a banned substance and a prohibited device inside the 'sanctum sanctorum' of Indian democracy, the Lok Sabha chamber, constitutes not only a blatant violation of parliamentary decorum and discipline but also a cognisable offence under the laws enacted by the House.

Such conduct lowers the dignity of the House, sets an "extremely poor precedent", and sends a dangerous message to the youth of the country at a time when the government and Parliament have taken a firm stand against all forms of tobacco and nicotine products, he said.

"Therefore, I earnestly request you to take immediate cognisance of this serious breach of rules and law; direct an inquiry into the incident through the appropriate committee or mechanism of the House," the BJP MP said in his letter to the Speaker.

Thakur also urged Birla to initiate "appropriate disciplinary proceedings against the member concerned" according to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.

"Ensure that exemplary action is taken and is placed on record so that the sanctity and dignity of the House is upheld," the former Union minister requested the Speaker.

Birla had said in the Lok Sabha on Thursday that if a written complaint is lodged on the matter, he will take action.

E-cigarettes were banned in the country a few years ago.

Hitting out at Thakur, Trinamool MP Kirti Azad and said he wasted Lok Sabha's time by raising the issue in the House.

"If you lodge any complaint against any MP or party levelling an allegation, it has to be proved. There are rules and regulations in Lok Sabha. He (Thakur) has served as a Union minister. Such a person, who doesn’t know rules and regulations, is levelling an allegation. It has to be proved," Azad told reporters in the Parliament complex when asked about Thakur's complaint.

"If I level an allegation that Anurag Thakur and BJP MPs take 40 per cent commission in government works, I will have to submit some proof to substantiate it. I know they take (commission) but I don't have any proof. What do I do then," he asked.

Azad also said that Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha is meant for all the MPs to raise their issues in the House.

"But, he was wasting time and the Speaker rapped him," the TMC MP alleged.

Azad also asked why Thakur has not named the MP against whom he levelled the allegation. "Who did that (smoke e-cigarette)?...Take name," he said.