By IANS
New Delhi : India’s ambassador to the US Ronen Sen will face the privileges committee of the Lok Sabha Monday over his controversial “headless chicken” remark about critics of the India-US nuclear deal that stirred some Left MPs into demanding his recall.
This will be perhaps the first time a top diplomat will appear before the privileges panel.
Congress MP V. Kishore Chandra Deo heads the 15-member Lok Sabha committee.
Sen will appear before the Rajya Sabha privileges committee on Nov 2.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had referred the issue, which rocked the monsoon session of parliament for several days, to the committee after receiving a reply by the external affairs ministry saying Sen had already expressed unqualified apology for the remarks, deemed insulting by some politicians.
A decision to summon Sen before the privileges committee of the Rajya Sabha was taken recently at a meeting presided over by the deputy chairman of the upper house, K. Rahman Khan.
At a time when the nuclear deal was being debated in the monsoon session of parliament, Sen was quoted saying in a media interview: “Why do you have all this running around like headless chicken, looking for a comment here or comment there, and these little storms in a tea cup?”
The remarks infuriated MPs from both the opposition and the government’s communist allies. Sen later said that he was misquoted and his remarks referred not to politicians, but some journalists.
“For instance, my comment about ‘running around like headless chicken looking for a comment here or comment there’ was a tactless observation on some of my media friends, and most certainly not with reference to any honourable member of parliament. However, if I have unwittingly hurt any sentiments, I offer my unqualified apologies,” Sen had said.