NEW DELHI: The Congress's chief whip in the Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh, on Monday gave notices of question of breach of privilege against Leader of the House J P Nadda and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju for "misleading" the House on alleged statements made by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
Ramesh gave two separate notices against the leaders under Rule 188 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha).
In his notice submitted to Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, the Congress member said shortly after the Rajya Sabha met on March 24, Rijiju "blatantly misled" the House by attributing some "false statements" purportedly made by Shivakumar.
In his notice against Nadda, Ramesh said the leader of the House has accused the Congress of passing a resolution in the Karnataka Assembly to provide 4-per cent reservation to Muslims in contracts.
He said while rejecting the statement of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Nadda said the leaders of the opposition party claim to be protectors of Ambedkar, who was of the opinion that there should be no reservation on the basis of religion.
Nadda also accused the Congress of taking away the rights of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) by giving reservation to Muslims and minorities, and said there is no repentence on the part of the opposition party for this.
"The above remarks by J P Nadda are completely false, lack factual basis and have been made with premeditated motive to defame the Indian National Congress and its leaders.
Hence, these constitute a breach of privilege and contempt of the House.
"It is well established that it is a breach of privilege and contempt of the House to make false and misleading statements in the House.
In view of the foregoing, I request that privilege proceedings may be initiated against J P Nadda in the matter," Ramesh said in his notice for privilege.
In his notice against Rijiju, the Congress leader said, "D K Shivakumar has since refuted the statements attributed to him to be false and derogatory in nature. Hence, the remarks made by Kiren Rijiju are false and misleading, which constitute a breach of privilege and contempt of the House."
"It is well established that it is a breach of privilege and contempt of the House to make false and misleading statements in the House. In view of the foregoing, I request that privilege proceedings may be initiated against Kiren Rijiju in the matter," Ramesh said.
Rijiju told the House earlier in the day that a senior Congress leader, who holds a constitutional post, has said his party will change the Constitution to provide reservation to Muslims.
Though he did not name the leader, he was apparently referring to Shivakumar.
"We cannot take this statement lightly," the minister said, adding that the remarks have not come from any ordinary party leader but from someone holding a constitutional post.