Chatterjee: What next?

New Delhi, April 25: BJP MP Babubhai Katara may be asked not to attend Parliament until police investigations in the human trafficking case are over.

Katara was recently arrested by Delhi police when he was trying to smuggle a woman and a boy out of India on his wife and son’s passports.

His arrest uncovered a major emigration racket, bringing members of Parliament from the BJP and other parties under the scanner.

Parliament sources said action is not likely to be taken on the other accused MPs — Mitrasen Yadav, Ashok Rawat and Mohammed Tahir Khan (all from the BSP) and Ramswarup Koli (BJP) — because the police have not got any concrete proof of their involvement so far.

At the customary all-party meeting called by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee this morning, most representatives are believed to have urged him to take a call on Katara.

The House will resume the second half of the budget session tomorrow.

Initially, it was thought that issues such as inflation, internal security, Kashmir and the BJP’s controversial CD used as part of its Uttar Pradesh poll campaign would dominate proceedings. But the Katara affair now seems to have pushed all of them out of the spotlight.

The Speaker will have another round of consultations with party leaders tomorrow morning before Parliament meets and announce his decision on Katara to the House.

The BJP made it clear to the Speaker that the case should not be “judged and considered” in isolation and demanded “fair play” in dealing with all lawmakers.

“We are not defending any of our members. All we asked for was let there be uniformity and fair play,” said V.K. Malhotra, the deputy leader of the BJP parliamentary party.

Malhotra said if a decision is taken to refer the emigration racket to an ethics committee of Parliament, it should also apply to other cases in which lawmakers have been implicated.

He cited the JMM bribery scandal, the controversy regarding M.K. Subba’s nationality, the 1984 anti-Sikh violence, the fodder scam and the disproportionate assets case in which Lalu Prasad has been named.

“Saying that the Subba and Lalu cases are sub judice is not enough. Even Katara is still being tried. His guilt has not been nailed,” Malhotra argued.

The BJP said Parliament should evolve a consensus to let its ethics and privileges committees take up only those cases that concern the violation of House privileges and ethics.

A Congress source said if Katara is guilty, then he has abused the diplomatic passports given to him and his wife by virtue of being an MP.

The Left and the Samajwadi Party said the House should wait for the probe to end. “If convicted, he (Katara) should be expelled,” CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said.