Jairam moves privilege notice against Shah in RS

Congress chief whip in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday gave a notice for breach of privilege against Home Minister Amit Shah for allegedly casting aspersions on Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi during his reply on a Bill in the Upper House.

In his notice filed to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, Ramesh said on March 25, Shah, while replying to the debate on the Disaster Management Bill, had inter alia stated that the PM Relief Fund was created during Congress rule and PM Cares was set up in PM Modi’s tenure. “I hereby give a notice of question of privilege in terms of Rule 188 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) against Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs, for casting aspersions on MP Sonia Gandhi,” he said in his notice.

He said Shah — during his reply — had stated, “During Congress rule, only one family had the control and the Congress president was a member of it. The Congress president was a part of the government fund. What will they reply to the government?” Ramesh said as may be seen on perusal of Shah’s statement, even though Shah did not take the name of Sonia Gandhi, “he had categorically by implication referred to her and imputed motives to her vis-a-vis the functioning of the National Prime Minister’s Relief Fund (NPMRF).”