'It's undemocratic': Kushwaha inveighs against collegium system in presence of Amit Shah
Karakat (Bihar), May 26: Former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha on Sunday expressed hope that upon return to power, the BJP-led NDA will make a fresh attempt at scrapping the "undemocratic" collegium system of appointment of judges in the higher judiciary.
Addressing an election rally in Karakat Lok Sabha constituency from where he is in the fray, Kushwaha made the statement in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
"The collegium system has many flaws. It is undemocratic. It has shut the doors of judgeship in the higher judiciary on Dalits, OBCs and even the poor among the upper castes," claimed Kushwaha, who heads the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM).
"If we look at the composition of the bench in the Supreme Court and the high courts, it is dominated by members of a few hundred families. A reason why the anomalous system has been criticised by no less than the current president and her predecessor," he added
Kushwaha, who was the minister of state for HRD in the first Narendra Modi government, recalled the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill which was brought in 2014.
"For some reason, it was struck down by the Supreme Court," he lamented.
Lashing out at RJD president Lalu Prasad, the NDA partner questioned his "social justice credentials", claiming "he had been a Union minister and an important ally of the UPA for the entire period the Congress-led coalition in power. But never did he raise a voice against the collegium system".
Referring to the corruption scandals against the RJD supremo, Kushwaha said "we cannot expect a principled stand on such issues from someone who keeps oscillating between jail and bail".
"It was the NDA that dared to bite the bullet on the thorny issue of collegium system. And it is the NDA which will continue to make efforts in this direction," he said.
Notably, Kushwaha has been a votary of reservations in higher judiciary and, despite switching allies a number of times, has not diluted his stand on the contentious issue.
The OBC leader also bristled at "rumours spread by detractors" that he had opposed the 10 per cent quota for Economically Weaker Sections introduced by the Modi government.
"I had supported the bill. If anybody can show any evidence that I had opposed it, I will retire from politics," he said, apparently wary of an upper-caste backlash in the elections.
Polling is scheduled in Karakat on June 1 and Kushwaha is locked in a three-cornered contest with Raja Ram of CPI(ML) Liberation and Bhojpuri superstar Pawan Singh who is contesting as an Independent and is expected to cut into a sizeable share of Rajput votes despite expulsion from the BJP.
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RS Chairman accepts merger of 7 AAP MPs with BJP
New Delhi (PTI): Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan on Monday officially accepted the merger of seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs with the BJP, reducing the strength of Arvind Kejriwal's party in the Upper House to three.
After this transition, the BJP's strength in the Upper House has increased to 113.
Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjit Sahney, Swati Maliwal, and Rajinder Gupta are the seven MPs who have merged.
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The Rajya Sabha website now shows that the seven MPs are part of the BJP list of members.
The seven MPs had on Friday petitioned the Rajya Sabha Chairman to be treated as BJP MPs after the merger and the same has been accepted, sources said.
The AAP had on Sunday moved a petition before the RS Chairman seeking the termination of the membership of the seven MPs, who had switched sides.
Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh said he has submitted a petition to Chairman Radhakrishnan seeking the disqualification of the seven party MPs in the Upper House, who recently quit the AAP and announced their merger with the BJP.
On Friday last, the AAP suffered a jolt when the seven Rajya Sabha MPs quit and announced merger with the BJP, alleging that the Kejriwal-led party had strayed from its principles, values and core morals.
