Kant rejects RS MP's resignation

Kant rejects RS MP's resignation
HARISH GUPTA

NEW DELHI, APRIL 27: The resignation of Barjinder Singh Hamdard, a Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, was rejected by RS chairman Krishan Kant last week.

Sources said on Wednesday the prime reason for the rejection was that Hamdard did not send the usual "one-liner quit note". Instead, he went on to say that due to unavoidable reasons and compelling circumstances he would like to quit the Rajya Sabha.

Obviously, the chairman ought to ask the member concerned the compelling reasons and unavoidable circumstances that made him to quit the membership.

In one-liner quit notices, the chairman normally does not interfere except for giving some more time to the MP to reconsider his own decision. When the BJP Lok Sabha MP B L Sharma `Prem' sent in his one-liner to the Speaker, there was no meeting between them. Prem's resignation was accepted after some time.

However, in the case of Barjinder Singh, Kant had to call him to seek certain clarifications and he rejected the resignation after hearing Barjinder's reasons. Hamdard had sent in his resignation following serious differences with the Akali Dal leadership and the same had caused ripples in the Akali Dal politics.

A final word is yet to be taken on the issue as Barjinder Singh Hamdard had not been attending the on-going session of the Parliament.