Privilege Motion moved by BJP MP stands invalid as constituted procedure not followed: Tharoor

New Delhi [India], July 29 (ANI): A day after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey moved a privilege motion against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who heads the parliamentary standing committee on Information Technology, the latter on Thursday said that the since no constituted procedure was followed in introducing the Privilege Motion, it has no validity.
Speaking to ANI at Parliament here today, Tharoor said, "No constituted procedure followed in introducing Privilege Motion. It requires Speaker to get House's consent and 25 members to stand and support. It wasn't done. Therefore the Privilege Motion has no validity whatsoever."
Dubey on Wednesday moved a privilege motion against Tharoor and demanded his removal as the Chairman of the IT panel. Raising the matter in the Lok Sabha during the Zero Hour, Dubey said that the members from the BJP would not be attending Wednesday's meeting, in which the panel was supposed to discuss the controversial Pegasus Project.
Further addressing Dubey's allegations on TMC MP Mahua Moitra, Tharoor questioned the BJP MP's claims and said that how could he be aware of someone's remarks at a meeting which never happened. Tharoor further questioned that even if Dubey was present, how could he know when Dubey did not sign the register validating his presence at the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology on Wednesday.
Dubey on Wednesday claimed that Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra had called him a "Bihari gunda" during a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology on Wednesday.
Dubey, the MP from Jharkhand's Godda took to Twitter to say that Moitra's "abusive language" has brought out into the open TMC's hatred towards North Indians, especially Hindi speaking people.
The Congress MP said, "There couldn't be a committee meeting yesterday because 10 people who were physically present chose not to sign the register to deny us a quorum. There was no quorum and no meeting. How can I tell you about a meeting that never happened?"
"I'm completely unaware. If somebody allegedly said something at a meet that never took place to somebody who was not there, how am I to be concerned about it? He did not sign the register, how do we know he's there?" he added.
Tharoor's remarks came after the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology led by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor to discuss the Pegasus snooping case with the ministry officials was not held on Wednesday in absence of the quorum.
The Committee was scheduled to discuss the Pegasus snooping case but the home ministry officials did not turn up for the meeting, said sources to ANI. The Committee had summoned the officials of the Ministry of Information Technology.
Only nine BJP MPs participated in the meeting today and the quorum was not fulfilled as almost 10 MPs were needed for the meeting to proceed further.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee yesterday discussed the draft Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill and heard views on its provisions. Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan gave his views to the panel, which is headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
The agenda of the meeting included a review of the functioning of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in the context of the draft Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2021. (ANI)