Form all-party panel for probe: Somanth

Hyderabad: Reacting to the recent cash-for-vote scam in which Telugu Desam MLA Revanth Reddy was caught red handed and later remanded to custody, former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee said “an all-party House committee must be constituted to probe into the incident”.

Speaking exclusively to The Hans India on Tuesday, referring to his own experience he said he had constituted an all-party House committee when a similar incident had taken place during his tenure as Lok Sabha speaker. A thorough probe by such a panel would be a step in the right direction to establish the truth, he said. The former speaker also came down heavily on the political parties for resorting to undemocratic practices such as poaching other party MLAs.

Some such MLAs were even serving as ministers in governments led by other parties, he said. This situation reflects the decadence of the political system. It is politically immoral and unconstitutional and such practices by political parties are bringing down the dignity of legislature and causing breach of prevalence of rule of law in society, he said.

On both counts, Chatterjee suggested stringent action against those responsible for denting and lowering the dignity of legislature, stressing the fact that such activities of political parties should be rooted out.

By:VRC Phaniharan