New Delhi, Mar 27, 2025, IANS

New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday rejected the notice of privilege motion given by Congress member Jairam Ramesh against Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The motion was moved by the Congress MP on March 26 for “casting aspersions” on senior party leader Sonia Gandhi. While dismissing the notice, the Rajya Sabha Chairman said that he had "carefully gone through" the matter and found that there was nothing wrong. He said that he had done his homework properly and cited records. While dismissing the notice, Chairman Dhankhar said he was anguished at the rampant use of the sensitive parliamentary practice of breach of privilege. "Breach of privilege is a serious matter. I have declined with a deep sense of anguish and pain that we rush to invoke a breach of privilege, we rush to the media ...and give it traction and try to tarnish image... I have said on a number of occasions that this House will not be a platform to ruin the reputations of members... we have to protect ..." Congress member Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday gave a notice of question of privilege in terms of Rule 188 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) against Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs, for casting aspersions on Sonia Gandhi, Member of Rajya Sabha and Chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party. In the notice, Ramesh had mentioned that during his reply on the Disaster Management Bill, 2024 on March 25, Amit Shah made unfounded allegations against Sonia Gandhi with a premeditated motive to malign her reputation. In the notice, he said, "... even though the Home Minister didn't take the name of Smt. Sonia Gandhi but he had categorically by implication referred to her and imputed motives to her vis-a-vis the functioning of the National Prime Minister's Relief Fund (NPMRF)." He said it was well established that it is a breach of privilege and contempt of the House to cast reflections or make derogatory references to any member of the House. "In the instant case, the Home Minister had made unfounded allegations against Smt. Sonia Gandhi with a premeditated motive to malign her reputation. The Home Minister's statement is blatantly false and is defamatory. This tantamounts to breach of privilege of Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Hence, this matter constitutes a breach of privilege and the contempt of the House as well." On Tuesday, during the discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the amendment to the Disaster Management Bill, HM Amit Shah launched a sharp attack on the Congress’ management of the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund during the UPA era, accusing the opposition of lacking accountability and transparency. "It has become a culture to make accusations and then run away. But this is Parliament, not a street. If you level allegations, you will have to listen to the response. Under the Congress regime, only one family had control over the Prime Minister's Relief Fund. The Congress party president used to be a member of the Prime Minister's Relief Fund," he said.