Today in Politics | Lok Sabha panel’s first meeting on Mahua Moitra row; Rahul Narwekar to hear two Senas’ petitions

As Vikas Pathak has reported, the Speaker appoints members of the Ethics Committee for one year and at present it is headed by the BJP’s Vinod Kumar Sonkar. The other committee members are Vishnu Datt Sharma, Sumedhanand Saraswati, Aparajita Sarangi, Rajdeep Roy, Sunita Duggal, and Subhash Bhamre of the BJP; V Vaithilingam, N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Balashowry Vallabbhaneni, and Preneet Kaur of the Congress; Hemant Godse of the Shiv Sena; Giridhari Yadav of the JD(U); P R Natarajan of the CPI(M); and Danish Ali of the BSP.

Since coming up over two decades ago, the ethics panel — its last meeting, as per Parliament website, was on July 27, 2021 — has heard several complaints, but these have largely been of a light nature. More serious complaints in the past have been heard either by the Committee on Privileges or by a committee specifically set up by the House.

In Maharashtra, in a significant movement on the disqualification petitions against the 54 Shiv Sena MLAs of the two factions, state Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar will be hearing them on Thursday. Both the Sena factions, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray, had made a submission of all the necessary documents by Wednesday.

After the Supreme Court came down heavily on the Speaker for the delay in deciding these petitions, Narwekar is set to submit a fresh timeline for adjudication of the petitions within three months.

In Karnataka, discontent is growing over the proposed BJP-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance. State JD(S) president C M Ibrahim, who was sacked from the party following his opposition to the alliance, claimed that all state unit leaders were opposed to the party’s partnership with the BJP and that the issue will be discussed at a party meeting in the national capital on Thursday. Leaders from several state units like Kerala, Maharashtra and Assam will participate in the Delhi meeting.

JD(S) supremo and ex-Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has dissolved the party’s Karnataka working committee and appointed his son and former CM H D Kumaraswamy as the ad-hoc president of the state unit.

President Droupadi Murmu will visit Karnataka and Tamil Nadu starting Thursday, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said. The President will inaugurate the Foundation Week of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, as part of its golden jubilee celebrations. President Murmu will also interact with the women entrepreneurs and officials of the N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at IIM Bangalore.

On October 27, the President will be in Chennai for the convocation of the Indian Maritime University.

Senior Congress leaders — Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jairam Ramesh and Shashi Tharoor — are likely to visit poll-bound Mizoram in the coming days to campaign for party candidates in the state Assembly polls slated for November 7, a party leader said.

Mizoram Congress media cell chairman Lalremruata Renthlei said Priyanka and Tharoor are likely to visit Mizoram to campaign for party candidates on November 3 and 4. He said Ramesh is expected to arrive in Aizawl on Thursday.

The elections to the 40-member Mizoram Assembly will be held on November 7.

— With PTI inputs