Mahua was forced to appear before Ethics panel, but Bidhuri...: Cong leader

Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has alleged that Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra's summoning by the Ethics Committee over the cash-for-query row, but no strict action against Bharatiya Janata Party's Ramesh Bidhuri for “objectionable” remarks in the Lok Sabha were indicative of the Centre's “double standards”.

He also claimed that the country has been passing through a very "critical stage" and that democracy is in "danger".

Aiyar was speaking in Patna on Sunday at the launch of former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi's book, India's Experiment with Democracy - The Life of Nation Through Its Elections.

"The spirit of the Indian Constitution must be protected. Each of our three pillars of democracy -- the legislative, the executive and the judiciary -- needs to remain strong. They constitute not only the form of parliamentary democracy but also its spirit.

“But it's not happening. The current dispensation at the Centre is adopting a different approach or has double standards in dealing with TMC's Mahua Moitra and BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri… why?" Aiyar, a former union minister, said.

Moitra had on November 2 appeared before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee in connection with the cash-for-query allegations against her. The TMC MP had walked out of the hearing over the nature of questions being asked.

Bidhuri, the BJP MP from South Delhi, had faced strong criticism over his "derogatory" comments against Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali in the Lok Sabha.

“Bidhuri is busy in BJP's election campaign in different states. But, Moitra was forced to appear before the Ethics Committee. I must say that electorates will have to remain cautious and alert in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls… they must cast their votes in the 2024 polls after proper thought," the veteran Congress leader said.

Speaking at the book launch, Quraishi disapproved of the concept of ‘One Nation, One Election', and said, “In a country like India, this theory cannot work at all. This issue was raised earlier, but it was not accepted”.