Tag: Rajya Sabha

For making the snide "underwear jibe" allegedly against film actor Jaya Prada, former SP leader Amar Singh Monday described his erstwhile party colleague Azam Khan as "filth and muck" of Indian politics. "Azam Khan is the filth and muck (gandgi) of Indian politics. He symbolises all the evils of the society," said former Rajya Sabha member Singh, who is considered as Jaya Prada's mentor in the north Indian politics. Maintaining that it was "below dignity" for him to react to what Khan says, Singh, however, added, "Even in the last election he had distributed Jaya Prada's morphed pictures, besides launching a vicious propaganda against me and her." "He had also once said that the fund for celebrating SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav's birthday came from Dawood Ibrahim and Abu Salem," alleged Singh. Singh, who had met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was reacting to Khan's remark in a poll campaign rally against his BJP contender Jaya Prada for the Rampur Lok Lok Sabha seat. Rampur goes to poll on April 23 in the third phase of elections. Singh also targeted his former friend and millennium star Amitabh Bachchan's wife and SP's Rajya Sabha member Jaya Bachchan and party's chief Akhilesh Yadav's MP-wife Dimple Yadav over their silence on Khan's alleged remarks against Jaya Prada, his contender for the Rampur Lok Sabha seat. Is Dimple Yadav not feeling ashamed?" asked Singh.

The court said it cannot legislate for Parliament and “as conscience-keepers of the Constitution, we (Supreme Court) can ask you (Parliament) to do it.” One cannot but sigh in disappointment. This is not only because the legislature does not inspire confidence, but also because the judiciary usually comes to the rescue when the legislature fails. Yes, such a law could work against legislators who are accused (and not convicted) of a crime. The potential for such legislation being misused by rival parties, and especially the party in power, weakens the case for it. That said, it is wishful thinking to expect political parties to do a course correction on their own. After widespread resentment, and an impromptu reaction by Rahul Gandhi at a press conference at the Delhi Press Club where he called the ordinance a “complete nonsense” — the government pulled back. There is also another reason for this scepticism. Similarly, in 2009, 15 percent of the winners had serious criminal cases, such as “murder, attempt to murder, communal disharmony, kidnapping, crimes against women” against them. The 2014 ADR report shows that the chances of winning for a candidate with criminal cases was more than for one with a clean record. A law against criminals entering the political system will only further strengthen India’s democracy, but in a system where political funding is still opaque, it is the “cold, hard cash” that forces political parties to select candidates with criminal records.