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Chandra Shekhar heads panel of MPs
to look into Bhagwat's case

A sixteen-member committee with former prime minister Chandra Shekhar as convenor was set up today by the presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to decide whether the dismissal of Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat as chief of naval staff can be discussed in Parliament.

The committee with 10 members from the Lower House and six from the Upper House is expected to peruse sensitive documents of the defence ministry. It is, however, unclear when the committee will begin its work.

The committee members from the Lok Sabha, besides Chandra Shekhar, are former prime ministers H D Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Defence Minister George Fernandes, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Kumaramangalam, former defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav (Samajwadi), Somnath Chatterjee (CPI-M), former home minister Indrajit Gupta (CPI) and Leader of the Opposition Sharad Pawar, also a former defence minister.

The six members from the Rajya Sabha are former finance ministers Dr Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee (both Congress), Adhik Shirodkar (Shiv Sena), E Balanandan (CPI-M), J Chittarajan (CPI) and Dr Raja Ramanna (nominated), a former minister of state for defence.

The decision to constitute this committee was taken at an all-party meeting convened by Speaker G M C Balayogi yesterday.

UNI

The Bhagwat Dismissal

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