By IANS,
New Delhi : Opposition leaders Monday pressed for prompt action against Lok Sabha member Mani Kumar Subba for allegedly forging his birth certificate to prove his Indian citizenship and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) too filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court that the documents the Congress MP from Assam filed about his place of birth were forged.
“Subba should be immediately sacked from the house and criminal proceedings initiated against him for forging documents,” deputy leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha Vijay Kumar Malhotra told IANS.
Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam told the apex court bench that the CBI had found the birth certificate of Subba “not genuine”. Subba represents Tezpur of Assam in the Lok sabha.
The bench had raised doubts over Subba’s citizenship Jan 19 and had asked him to submit various documents to the court to prove that he is an Indian citizen.
Subba has over the years persistently denied the charge that he is not an Indian by birth.
The Subba episode comes as fresh ammunition for the opposition to corner the Congress in the Lok Sabha even as the dust being kicked up over Shipping, Transport and Highways Minister T.R Baalu allegedly seeking favours from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for his sons has not yet settled.
Malhotra said his party would raise the issue in the Lok Sabha and urge Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to take action against Subba.
“Till the Supreme Court order is delivered, Subba can be debarred from attended the proceedings of the house. A parliamentary committee should be set up to look into the matter. In the cash-for-query case, the apex court has held the parliament’s right to act against erring MPs.”
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Braj Kishore Tripathi said the Congress MP had brought disrepute to the august house by producing forged documents to become its member. “The case should be referred to a parliamentary committee,” Tripathi said.
However, the Congress leaders said the law should take its course in the case.
“It is not a matter of the Congress or any other party. The law will take its own course in this regard and the party will abide by the verdict of the Supreme Court,” Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Rashid Alvi told IANS.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), a constituent of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), whose president Lalu Prasad is railway minister, too expressed an identical view.
“It is a serious matter, and the CBI should conduct the probe properly to know the truth. It amounts to misguiding the house as well if the charges are found to be true. The court verdict will make things clear,” said RJD deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Devendra Prasad Yadav.
The Subba controversy can affect the Left parties too, as his claimed place of birth is a village in Darjeeling district of West Bengal. The CBI has disputed the claim in the affidavit filed with the apex court Monday.
According to the bio-data of Subba on the Lok Sabha website, he was born March 16, 1958 at No.1, Dabgram, Silliguri, Darjeeling in West Bengal, a state under the Left rule for over 30 years, while his permanent address of Harmoti, North Lakhimpur, Assam.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury, however, refused to comment, saying that he was not aware of the CBI’s affidavit and its contents.
“I am not pursuing the matter. I cannot comment off hand,” Yechury said, adding that in such matters the rule of the land would prevail.