MPs having conflict of interest should declare it: Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu

Accosted with a barrage of questions on the conflict of interest among party MPs linked to tobacco trade, Naidu said the Committees do their work as per rules and will submit their report to Parliament.

"Anybody who has got a conflict of interest, as per the rule of Parliament you are supposed to declare the conflict of interest, if any. And then the Committee and the Parliament takes care of it," he told reporters.

Naidu, however, refused to comment on whether the party has asked him to intervene on the issue, asking its MP Shyama Charan Gupta to resign, who is part of tobacco trade and a member of Parliamentary Committee of Subordinate Legislation, which is looking into framing rules for tobacco trade.

He did not respond to speculation that government has asked its MPs having conflict of interest to resign from such parliamentary panels.

Another party MP Dilip Gandhi, who heads the parliamentary panel, had recently said there was no Indian study to show the link between tobacco use and cancer and had asked government to stall the increase in pictorial warnings on all tobacco products from the current 40% to 85%.

The new pictorial warning rules, which were to be implemented from April 1, have been kept in abeyance till the panel discusses the issue, evoking criticism from many that government has succumbed to tobacco lobby even as the issue of conflict of interest was raised by them.

Government had said that it would take a "measured and responsible" decision on the issue, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley making it clear that the decision of the government in the matter will not be based on the opinions of individuals.