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Parliamentary panel on Bhagwat affair may be expanded; first meeting today

The informal parliamentary committee to go into the question of how Parliament should discuss the dismissal of former naval chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat is being expanded and the first meeting of the committee is to be held today.

The committee was to meet yesterday at Speaker G M C Balayogi's chamber but the meeting was postponed twice since the number of leaders to be included in the committee and the terms of reference remained a bone of contention between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition and the Opposition.

The meeting today is expected to finalise the terms of reference of the committee, sources said.

Sources said six more members are likely to be included in the 16-member committee conceived by the government in consultation with the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairman last week.

The names of Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, Industry Minister Sikandar Bakth, Kamal Choudhry, Vijay Kumar Malhotra (all from the Bharatiya Janata Party), Yerran Naidu (the Telugu Desam Party) and P Shiv Shankar (the Congress) are doing the rounds.

Former prime minister Chandra Shekhar is the convenor of the committee. The committee will peruse the records of the defence ministry before recommending how the House could discuss the sensitive issue.

The Opposition leaders are likely to insist that the committee should summon Admiral Bhagwat and not merely go by the files of the ministry before taking a final decision in the matter.

UNI

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