Pegasus: IT panel meeting postponed BJP member demands Tharoor's removal

(MENAFN- NewsBytes) A meeting of the Parliamentary committee on Information and Technology was put off on Wednesday due to a lack of quorum as panel members from the Bharatiya Janata Party refused to sign attendance. The agenda was "citizens' data security and privacy" in light of the Pegasus scandal . BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has now sought the removal of the panel chair, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.

• What happened at the IT panel meeting?
• Congress not allowing Pegasus discussion in Parliament: BJP
• What are BJP's allegations against Tharoor?
• What does the privilege motion against Tharoor say?
• Pegasus no-go area for this government: Congress
• Mahua Moitra called me Bihari Goonda: BJP's Dubey
• IT panel will 'do its duty,' Tharoor said earlier

The panel was to meet Wednesday to question officials from the Home, IT, and Communications Ministries, The Indian Express reported. However, when the panel met, the BJP MPs on the panel suggested that there was a lack of quorum (one-third of the total 31 members). Reportedly, when it was argued that 19 members were present, the BJP members refused to sign the attendance sheet.

BJP members, who are in majority on the panel, reportedly denied a quorum. They argued that the Pegasus issue cannot be discussed in the panel since Congress is blocking discussions in Parliament. Notably, both Houses of Parliament have seen daily disruptions over the matter since the Monsoon Session commenced as the Opposition pushes for a Supreme Court-monitored judicial probe into the Pegasus case.

On Wednesday, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey moved a privilege motion against Shashi Tharoor accusing him of bias. BJP members said Tharoor makes the agenda of the panel meetings public without the knowledge of members. This amounts to a breach of secrecy, they said. The motion claimed that Tharoor had lost a majority of the panel members' trust and demanded his removal as its head.

Tharoor "not only disrobed the democratic functioning of an August Committee but also exhibited an extreme high level of sycophancy towards his political masters, who still have a false notion of ruling our country and its democratic institutions by way of destroying them bit-by-bit and also creating a ruckus through their cronies like the present chairperson of the committee on IT," said Dubey's notice.

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, who is also a member of the panel, said in a tweet, "BJP members come to the [meeting] and refuse to sign the attendance register." He said, "Further, all the witnesses called from MiEIT and MHA wrote in excuses and didn't appear as called to testify. It's very clear that Pegasus is a no-go area for this government."

Dubey alleged that a panel member, TMC MP Mahua Moitra , called him a "Bihari Goonda" during the meeting. He said will take this up with Speaker Om Birla on Thursday. In her defense, Moitra tweeted, "IT mtng (meeting) did not happen because NO quorum - members did not attend. How can I call someone a name who was not even present!! Check attendance sheet!"

After announcing that the panel will take up the Pegasus snooping issue, Tharoor had said that the IT panel "will do its duty." He also ruled out the possibility of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Pegasus case , which deals with the possible surveillance of 300 Indian citizens—including politicians, journalists, activists, etc.—by a domestic or foreign government.

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