'Send me notice,' says Raghav Chadha as MPs accuse him of forging signatures

Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha landed himself in a controversy when five Rajya Sabha MPs claimed that he added their names without their consent to a proposed select committee on the Delhi Services Bill, and that their signatures were ‘forged’.

The Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh initiated a probe into their complaints.

Chadha proposed that the select committee should examine the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 that would replace an ordinance to handle transfers and postings of bureaucrats in the Delhi government.

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Chadha’s amendment to send the bill to a select committee in the Upper House was negated by a voice vote.

The five Rajya Sabha MPs who made the accusation against him were M Thambidurai of the AIADMK, Sasmit Patra of the BJD, and Narhari Amin, Sudhanshu Trivedi, and S Phangnon Konyak of the BJP.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah demanded that the issue be investigated, and that it should be referred to the privileges committee.

Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi and Hardeep Singh Puri also reacted by saying that it was a serious matter and action should be taken.

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Raghav Chadha, in the meantime, was unfazed and said, “Let a privilege committee send me a notice. I will give my answer to the committee.”

Congress MP Shakti Singh Gohil, clarifying the issue, said, “There is no compulsion to take consent of the member who has to be in the committee. If the member does not want to be on the committee, their name will be removed automatically. There is no provision to take the signature of any member whose name has been mentioned in the proposal.

(With inputs from agencies)