Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Thursday witnessed a scuffle in the House over a remark made in the Lok Sabha on a bill related to the salary and service conditions of judges in the Lok Sabha. However, the two MPs did not take each other’s names.
In fact, while participating in the discussion on the ‘High Court and Supreme Court (Salary and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill’ in the lower house of Parliament on Tuesday, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had mentioned some subjects on which BJP leader Nishikant Dubey objected. It was said that the matters pending in the courts should not be raised here.
‘Face-off’ Shashi Tharoor and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey
Dubey had also made a remark with reference to Tharoor which the Congress MP termed as a personal charge and the matter was raised in the Lok Sabha on Thursday during Zero Hour.
Without naming Dubey, Tharoor said, “A remark was made during the discussion on the bill related to the salaries of judges… It was said that I have a pending case against me in the court and so I should not participate in the discussion. The truth is that there is no case pending against me but even if there were it cannot prevent any member from participating in the discussion.”
“I urge the Speaker to please ensure that this issue is condemned, that this kind of a thing is not repeated by any member against any other member of this House,” he said.
Later, during Zero Hour itself, Dubey, without naming Tharoor, said, “Sir, you have made a rule not to speak outside the Bill… Allegations should not be leveled here on things which are under consideration of the court.”
Turning to the opposition, he said, “I was trying to tell the MP that if you pointed a finger at someone, the other four fingers will be pointing towards you”. Soon after, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla adjourned the proceedings of the House for the lunch break.
This is not the first time Mr. Tharoor and Mr. Dubey have faced off against each other. In July this year, Mr. Dubey asked for Mr. Tharoor’s removal as chairperson of the standing committee on Information Technology and moved a privilege motion against him stating that the latter had tried to discuss issues not circulated in the agenda before hand including the Pegasus snooping allegations.