by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Special report
Sena, NCP lent helping hand to Govt. in Rajya Sabha
Their 5 MPs absented from voting on CAB
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Dec 12
The Shiv Sena may be stoutly opposing the BJP and accusing its policies left, right and center. But when it comes to voting against the ruling BJP's bills, the Sena has different yardstick. All three members of the Shiv Sena in the Rajya Sabha – Sanjay Raut, Anil Desai and Rajkumar Dhoot walked out of the Rajya Sabha when the Citizenship Amendment Bill (Bill), 2019 was put to vote. The Shiv Sena voted for the bill in the Lok Sabha and took a 180 degree turn when Congress threatened to pull the plugs on the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra. They all walked out and helped in different way to get the CAB passed by a massive margin. The CAB was passed by the RS by 125 to 99 though the NDA's official strength was only 99. It mustered 26 extra votes despite four of its own supporting MPs were absent due to severe health reasons.
As if this was not enough, two senior leaders of the NCP- Majeed Memon and Vandana Chavan – were also absent when the CAB was put to vote in Rajya Sabha last night. Though Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel were present but the two other members ensured their absence paving the way CAB's smooth passage.
Two members of the Bahujan Samaj Party out of the four were also absent without any explanation and same was case with the K D Singh of the TMC who “suddenly developed high BP.” The TMC leadership is considering to issue him with a show cause notice. Beni Prasad Verma of the Samajwadi Party was also absent in the Rajya Sabha. One member of the Congress Party Mukut Mithi also absented at the time of voting.
There are 240 members in Rajya Sabha at present with five vacancies. The AIADMK (11), Biju Janata Dal (7), TDP (2) and several others lent the helping hand to the BJP in smooth passage of the bill. But the chinks were exposed in the Opposition camp making the PM Modi and Amit Shah to smile.
Ends
