BJP petitions RS panel for disqualification of 2 TDP members

The BJP has petitioned the Ethics Committee of Rajya Sabha seeking disqualification of two Telugu Desam Party members, Y Satyanarayana Chowdary and C M Ramesh, as they were facing serious allegations of massive financial bungling and fraud.

BJP MP G V L Narasimha Rao, who filed the petition with Ethics Committee Chairman Narayan Lal Pancharia, told reporters here Thursday that the two TDP members were "the Mallyas of AP" and the stature of Parliament and public faith in the institution was seriously damaged because of the cases.

"Rajya Sabha suffered a serious dent to its image because of the allegations against Vijay Mallya. The case of Y S Chowdary is even more dangerous as his business operations remain shady.

It seems thousands of crores were borrowed using political clout and patronage," Rao said in his letter.

"C M Ramesh is involved in benami operations and evaded income tax running into hundreds of crores of rupees.

His public conduct has also been repugnant and unbecoming of a member of Parliament.

Chowdary has been charged by several public sector banks of defrauding them and registered FIRs against his companies resulting in a probe by the Enforcement Directorate," the BJP MP noted.

ED investigations revealed that Chowdary's companies borrowed Rs 5,700 crore from banks and diverted them to several shell companies, he added.

"The stature of Parliament and public faith in this great institution has been seriously damaged because of the cases of financial misappropriation.

As it is the mandate of the Ethics Committee to ensure that members of Parliament maintain high standards of integrity, I am writing to you to examine my complaint and initiate suitable action against the two (TDP) members to ensure dignity and respect of Parliament is restored," the Rajya Sabha member said.

He also wanted Chowdary to recuse himself from deliberations of the Ethics Committee as he was its member and the complaint pertains to him.

"The closeness the MPs in question enjoy with Chandrababu gives rise to suspicion that they are his benamis.

It was only to protect his cronies that Chandrababu decided to bar the CBI from entering AP," the MP alleged.

When contacted, a TDP spokesperson told PTI that the party high command has not yet taken a stand on this.