BJP MPs walk out of Standing Committee on IT

Move comes hours after Union Minister Bhupender Yadav holds tutorial for party lawmakers

BJP members on Tuesday staged a walkout from the meeting of the Standing Committee on Information and Technology, headed by senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, claiming that the rules do not permit committee meetings to be held while Parliament is in session. The committee is also set to discuss the on Wednesday. Hours before the BJP MPs walked out of the meeting, newly appointed Union Environment and Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav had called for an “informal” meeting of the BJP members of the IT Parliamentary Panel. Awkwardly, the invitation for the meeting also went to CPI(M) MP and member P.R. Natarajan. “Around 1 p.m. I got a call from Mr. Yadav’s office, saying that the Minister wants to meet. I was surprised, since I had not sought any appointment with him. I told that to the person who phoned me but he insisted that I come at 2 p.m. to meet the Minister,” Mr Natarajan told The Hindu. At 2 p.m. Mr. Natarajan went to Mr. Yadav’s room in Parliament and met him. “He asked me are you a member of the IT committee? I said yes, then he asked me which party I was from. When I told him I was from CPI (M), he apologised and said it was a meeting only for the BJP members,” Mr. Natarajan said.