'BJP-sponsored committee': Priyank Kharge slams composition of Waqf joint panel

Calling the Waqf Amendment Bill Joint Parliamentary Committee "BJP-sponsored committee," Karnataka minister and Congress leader Priyank Kharge on Thursday claimed that other MPs who have no connection with the Joint Parliamentary Committee are in that meeting.

"It is a BJP committee. If it's a Joint Parliamentary Committee, where are the other members (of Parliament)? What is a former MP doing in that committee meeting? What are other MPs who have no connection with the JPC doing in that meeting?" Priyank Kharge said.



" A Joint Parliamentary Committee means the committee members should come. This is nothing but a BJP-sponsored committee that has come today," he added.

Meanwhile , Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee, a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Waqf Amendment Bill, said that the opposition members of the committee will boycott the next round of meetings beginning November 9.

Banerjee said the chairman of the JPC has fixed a hectic schedule of meetings in Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Patna and Lucknow over six days, with Sunday being a holiday in between.

Opposition members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee have collectively chosen to abstain from the tour and meetings, citing the chairman's authoritarian approach, announced Banerjee during a press briefing at the Press Club, accompanied by party colleague MP Nadimul Haque.

The opposition members will collectively determine their next steps, PTI news agency reported.

During a meeting with the Lok Sabha Speaker on November 5, opposition JPC members requested postponement of the schedule and proposed reducing meeting frequency from twice weekly to either once a week or two consecutive days fortnightly, Banerjee explained.

Despite the Speaker's verbal assurance to consider their requests sympathetically and discuss with the chairman, no subsequent action was taken, he added.

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