Advani renominated Lok Sabha Ethics Committee chair

New Delhi, Sep 7:

BJP veteran L.K. Advani has been renominated the chairman of the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

According to official sources, BJP member Arjun Ram Meghwal, who has since joined the Union Council of Ministers, has been moved out of the panel.

Samajwadi Party member Akshay Yadav is the new member on the panel, as is Rakesh Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Rakesh Singh, the Jabalpur MP from Madhya Pradesh, has replaced Meghawal as the BJP’s Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha.

The 15-member ethics panel is at present examining the high-profile Narada sting operation controversy in which five Trinamool Congress MPs were allegedly shown accepting cash.

The Narada controversy was referred to the panel by the Lok Sabha Speaker.

The committee can also suo motu take up matters relating to ethics and unethical conduct by members.

A. Arunmozhithevan (AIADMK), Ninong Ering (Congress), Sher Singh Ghubaya (Shiromani Akali Dal), Hemant Tukaram Godse (Shiv Sena), Pralhad Joshi, Bhola Singh, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Kariya Munda, Sumedhanand Saraswati and Jayshreeben Patel (all BJP), Bhartruhari Mahtab (Bju Janata Dal) and Malla Reddy (Telengana Rashtra Samithi) are other members of the committee.

According to Lok Sabha sources, senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader P. Karunakaran has been nominated as Chairman of the Committee on Absence of Members from the Sittings of the House.

BJP member Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has been named as the chairman to the Committee on Government Assurances, Chandrakant B. Khaire for the Committee on Papers Laid on the Table and Dilipkumar Mansukhlal Gandhi for the Committee on Subordinate Legislation, the source said. (IANS)