"Seems reasonable...": Congress' Shashi Tharoor differs from party on bill removing CM, ministers accused of serious crimes

"New Delhi [India], August 20 (ANI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday voiced support for laying down rules to remove the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, or ministers of states and union territories from their posts if they are arrested on serious criminal charges.
Taking a slightly different stance from his party colleagues on the Consitution (130th Amendment) Bill, which seeks to lay down said rules, Tharoor mentioned that while he does not know enough about the bills tabled by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, "on the face of it," it is "reasonable" that anyone doing wrong things should not be allowed to hold a political office in the country.
"As far as I am concerned, I don't know those Bills well enough to give you a comment. On the face of it, it seems reasonable that anyone who does anything wrong should be liable to punishment and should not be holding a high constitutional office or a political office. I think that makes sense," Tharoor told ANI at Parliament premises.
The Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025, seeks to remove a Central or State Minister who is facing allegations of corruption or serious offences and has been detained for at least 30 days. The Bill was tabled by Union Minister Amit Shah in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
However, Tharoor's remarks differ from the party's leadership, who has termed the bills as "unconstitutional" and "draconian."
Party leader Priyanka Gandhi, taking strong exception to the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill said earlier today that the bill being touted as an anti-corruption measure is just a "veil over the eyes of people," claiming that a Chief Minister could be arrested on fabricated charges and be removed from their post after 30 days without a conviction if the bill is passed.
"I see it as a completely draconian thing, as it goes against everything. To say it as an anti-corruption measure is just to pull a veil across the eyes of the people," the Wayanad MP told reporters here.
"Tomorrow, you can put any kind of a case on a CM, have him arrested for 30 days without conviction, and he ceases to be a CM. It is absolutely anti-constitutional, undemocratic and very unfortunate," she added.
Similarly, party leader KC Venugopal also slammed the bill, calling it a "diversionary tactic" to take attention away from alleged electoral fraud and Rahul Gandhi's Bihar Yatra.
"This is only a diversionary tactic. This is a draconian law. This is not going to be passed by the Parliament. They want to divert attention from electoral fraud and the Bihar Yatra...They are trying to constitutionalise vendetta politics," Venugopal told reporters.
Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said that they will take any action after the Bill is introduced in the House.
"Congress is against corruption, but since the BJP has come into power, the definition of corruption has changed. Whether it is the Election Commission, ED, or CBI, there is a lot of misuse, and that is why their conviction rate is more than 90%... Let the bill come; we will understand it, and only after understanding it will we take action and react to it...," Tiwari said.
A similar bill, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2025 seeks to amend section 54 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, to provide a legal framework for the removal of the Chief Minister or a Minister in case of arrest or detention in custody on account of serious criminal charges.
The Union Home Minister will further move to refer these Bills to a Joint Committee of the Houses consisting of 21 Members of the Lok Sabha to be nominated by the Speaker and 10 Members of the Rajya Sabha to be nominated by the Deputy Chairman. (ANI)