Par panel postpones adoption of report critical of Rajnath

A Parliamentary panel today had to postpone adoption of a draft report critical of BJP President Rajnath Singh, who levelled allegations against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, following a demand by a BJP member to conclude the meeting as he had to catch a flight.
As soon as the committee took up the issue of adoption of the draft report, BJP member Ananth Kumar insisted that the meeting be concluded as he has to catch a flight.
BJP members in the Committee were of the view that the report should not be adopted in their absence as it pertained to party chief Singh.

Panel chief P C Chacko concluded the meeting saying that in the next meet, the adoption of the draft report would be the first agenda and he would not postpone the issue any further.
The adoption of the report on Singh's comments in the Lok Sabha about gram panchayat members forcibly acquiring signatures to hand over land to the Rajiv Gandhi Trust has been postponed on at least three earlier occasions too.
The draft report is learnt to be critical on Singh for levelling "false and baseless" charges against Gandhi over alleged irregularities in acquisition of land for the Trust in Haryana.

While BJP claims that Article 105 of the Constitution protects freedom of speech of MPs in Parliament, the draft maintains that rules of business in Lok Sabha do not permit an MP from making statements imputing motives during a speech in the House.