Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha on Thursday decided to bring a privilege motion against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for saying that members of Parliament misuse their area development funds.
The decision was taken at a meeting attended by former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Shivraj Patil (Congress), Mulayam Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (Rashtriya Janata Dal) and those from the Left.
Describing Wednesday developments in the UP assembly as total breakdown of the constitutional machinery', Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Somnath Chatterjee said, "We have decided to demand an urgent discussion on the matter under Rule 184 (which entails voting), as the principles of parliamentary democracy are being trampled in UP.
"We are also considering moving a privilege motion and are working on it. We will submit it as soon as possible."
He added that the motion would be 'against those who have made the allegations. Someone making baseless allegations should suffer'.
Chatterjee said, "We totally repudiate this blanket allegation that all MPs are misusing funds... the image of all politicians is taking a beating because of some wrongdoers. No one can say that all 793 MPs sitting in Delhi are crooks..."