Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has, yet again, differed from his party line and backed the three controversial bills introduced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to remove arrested Prime Minister, Chief Ministers and Ministers. The Lok Sabha witnessed ruckus as Shah tabled the bills, as opposition called it “draconian” and an attempt to bring “dictatorship” in the country. However, when asked about the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, Tharoor said it seemed “reasonable” to him. 

“As far as I am concerned, I don’t know those Bills well enough to give you a comment. On the face of it, it seems reasonable that anyone who does anything wrong should be liable to punishment and should not be holding a high constitutional office or a political office. I think that makes sense…” Tharoor told the media. 

“If somebody spends 30 days in jail, can he continue to be a minister? This is a matter of common sense… I don’t see anything wrong in this,” he added.

Tharoor is a senior leader of the Congress party and the member of the working committee as well. He backed the bill on the very day when his party MPs took an opposite stance in Lok Sabha. Some of the members of the opposition even tore the copy of the bill and threw the pieces at Amit Shah. 

This is not the first time Tharoor has taken a different stand from that of his party. He backed the government’s Operation Sindoor, and was part of a special delegation as well that went to several countries to unmask Pakistan. Tharoor, unlike his party, praised the decision of Operation Sindoor and hailed its success as well multiple times.

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Tharoor backs bills, other Congress MPs reject them

While Tharoor spoke in favour of the bill and the idea behind it, other Congress leaders have opposed the same. Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the bills go against everything. 

“I see it as a completely draconian thing, as it goes against everything. To say it as an anti-corruption measure is just to pull a veil across the eyes of the people,” the Wayanad MP told reporters, quoted PTI.

“Tomorrow, you can put any kind of a case on a CM, have him arrested for 30 days without conviction, and he ceases to be a CM. It is absolutely anti-constitutional, undemocratic and very unfortunate,” she added.

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KC Venugopal also slammed the bill, calling it a “diversionary tactic” to take attention away from alleged electoral fraud and Rahul Gandhi’s Bihar Yatra.

“This is only a diversionary tactic. This is a draconian law. This is not going to be passed by the Parliament. They want to divert attention from electoral fraud and the Bihar Yatra…They are trying to constitutionalise vendetta politics,” Venugopal told reporters.

What do the bills say?

The three bills seek removal of the Prime Minister, chief ministers and ministers at the Centre and in states/UTs, if they have spent 30 consecutive days under arrest or detention, on an allegation of committing offences punishable with imprisonment extending to five years or more, reported IANS.

The INDIA bloc resisted the bill in the lower house, but Tharoor said that the bill has been decided to be sent to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). Let the Bill be discussed in detail by a JPC as a proper scrutiny will clear doubts, he said.

Earlier in the day, the INDIA bloc held a meeting and decided unanimously to oppose the legislation.