Ruckus in Rajya Sabha over ‘wad of notes’ found at Abhishek Singhvi’s seat
Singhvi, who was not in the House on Friday, says the notes weren’t his and that he supports a full investigation as the Chairman has sought
Ruckus broke out in Rajya Sabha on Friday (December 6) when Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar informed the House that during a routine anti-sabotage check of the House on Thursday, security officials recovered a “wad of currency notes” from Seat No 222, allotted to Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
Dhankhar said he had asked for an “investigation as per the law and the same is underway”.
Singhvi, who was not in the House on Friday, has said the notes weren’t his and that he was in the House on Thursday only for three minutes and that he supports a full investigation.
“Serious investigation” needed
Dhankhar said when the matter was brought to his notice, he “thought someone would come to reclaim it” but no one did till Friday morning. The RS Chairman added that he was “not aware, can’t make out from the look whether the currency notes are fake or not” but said “apparently, the denomination is of (Rs) 500 and the wad appears to be physically of (Rs) 100 notes”.
Dhankhar said all this is now subject to a “serious investigation” and “no one should be opposed to an investigation because the House has to send a signal that we are increasingly moving towards a formal economy”. Dhankhar asked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, present in the House, that whether this indicated that “the state of the economy (is so good) that people can afford to forget” currency notes.
Treasury bench shouts down Kharge
Leader of Opposition in the House Mallikarjun Kharge said the matter was under investigation and till the time the probe wasn’t over and it wasn’t authenticated who the currency belonged to, the Chairman shouldn’t have named the member. Treasury benches shouted him down.
Dhankhar responded saying he would appreciate that till the matter was under investigation, it shouldn’t become a matter of debate, but said he named the member (Singhvi) after checking whether he had attended the House on the day. Dhankhar reiterated that he could not say with certainty whether the notes were fake or genuine, and whether the wad was indeed of 100-rupee notes, or to whom it belonged.
“Minimal” step taken: Dhankhar
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju remarked that he could not understand why the Chair could not name the member (Singhvi) when the seat number from which the notes were recovered and its occupant were known. Rijiju said it was not proper for MPs to be coming to the House with wads of currency and an investigation was necessary.
Dhankhar said the step taken by him was “minimal” and did not tantamount to any “transgression”. Kharge objected, saying when the investigation was still underway, how could he declare the name of the member. Dhankhar asked Kharge if he was casting aspersions on the Chair.
Blow on dignity of House: Nadda
Leader of the House JP Nadda said the incident was of a “very serious nature” and not a matter of partisan politics in the House. Nadda said the incident inflicted a blow on the dignity of the House and called for a thorough investigation.
Nadda said he expected the LoP to support a thorough investigation and called for the House to collectively “condemn the incident”.
Kharge asserted that he never objected to the probe or tried to suppress any matter but merely stated that the name of the member should not have been taken when the investigation had not even concluded.
Union minister Piyush Goyal said, “Today, a wad of currency has been recovered; who knows what will be recovered tomorrow from that (Opposition) side!... These people build fake narratives and it must be investigated if this is part of some give and take to add to the fake narrative the Opposition builds” in cahoots with foreign forces.
“Astonished”, says Singhvi
Singhvi told media persons later that he was “quite astonished to even hear" about the incident. “I went into the House at 12.57 pm yesterday. The House rose at 1 pm. From 1 to 1.30 pm, I sat with Ayodhya Prasad in the canteen and had lunch. At 1.30 pm, I left Parliament. So, my total stay in the House yesterday was three minutes and my stay in the canteen was 30 minutes. I find it bizarre that even on such issues, politics is raised," he said.
He added that an inquiry must be conducted to find out "how people can come and put anything anywhere" in his seat. "It means that each of us must have a seat where the seat itself can be locked and the key can be carried home by the MP because anybody can then do things in the seat and make allegations about this. If it were not tragic and serious, it would be comical. I think everybody should cooperate in getting to the bottom of this and, if there is a failure by the security agencies, that must also be completely exposed...,” he added.
