At least 70 MPs of the Lower House have not disclosed their assets and liabilities to the Lok Sabha, as is mandatory. Nearly half of them are from the ruling Congress. The list of defaulters, updated up to February 24, includes former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, who is under investigation for siphoning off crores of rupees of public money. Other prominent members on the list include former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, former railway minister Lalu Prasad and Congress's high- profile spokesperson Manish Tewari. Only five of the defaulting MPs are women. The list of Lok Sabha members who have not revealed the details of their assets and liabilities was given to activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal. He had filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking the information. In response to a query from Agrawal, the Lok Sabha secretariat said it cannot force the members to file their assets or take any action against them unless there is a complaint. "No action has been taken against the defaulting members, including action for breach of privilege of the House. The reason is the non- receipt of any complaint from any other member or any citizen of India in this regard, as is required," the secretariat said, quoting rules 5(1) and (2) of the Members of the Lok Sabha (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Rules, 2004. In response, Agrawal promptly wrote a letter to Speaker Meira Kumar. He requested her to consider his letter as a written complaint by a citizen seeking action against the MPs who have not disclosed their assets. The speaker's office is yet to respond. The list throws up a rather interesting combination of how important this aspect of transparency is to MPs of various parties. The maximum number of defaulter MPs - 30 of the 70 in the list - are from the Congress. BJP, has seven defaulters, including former Jharkhand CM Arjun Munda and ex- cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu.
While the other MPs from Lalu's Rashtriya Janata Dal have filed the details of their assets and liabilities, the party chief apparently doesn't find the need to do so. Among independent MPs on the list are Koda - whose assets are still being probed - and a relatively 'clean' Babulal Marandi of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha. The Congress MPs, other than the articulate Tewari, include Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's son Deepender and former Union minister of state Inderjit Singh Rao. One of the party's Young Turks, Madhu Yashki Goud, too has not filed his assets and liabilities. Deepa Das Munshi, wife of former parliamentary affairs minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, and the high-profile princess of the Oudh family, Rajkumari Ratna Singh, also figure on the list. The Samajwadi Party has three members on the defaulters' list. While the Janata Dal (U) has six. The Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Trinamool Congress have two each, and the Telugu Desam Party has three MPs who are yet to submit the details. The NCP, the DMK, the BJD, AIMIM and the Akali Dal have one MP each on the defaulters' list. MAY YOU BE EVER HAPPY, WELL AND SECURE MAY YOU LIVE LONG MAY ALL SENTIENT AND NON-SENTIENT BEINGS BE EVER HAPPY MAY YOU BE ALWAYS HAVE CALM, QUIET, ALERT,ATTENTIVE AND EQUANIMITY MIND WITH A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING THAT NOTHING IS PERMANENT --- On Wed, 2/6/10, Siddhartha Kumar <mailsiddharth...@gmail.com> wrote: From: Siddhartha Kumar <mailsiddharth...@gmail.com> Subject: [ZESTCaste] Cong to present Mayawati list of "tainted" BSP leaders To: "zestcaste" <zestcaste@yahoogroups.com> Date: Wednesday, 2 June, 2010, 5:16 PM http://www.ptinews.com/news/684115_Cong-to-present-Mayawati-list-of--tainted--BSP-leaders Cong to present Mayawati list of "tainted" BSP leaders STAFF WRITER 19:13 HRS IST Allahabad, June 1 (PTI) Blaming Mayawati for failing to act against "tainted" leaders of her party, the Congress today said it will approach the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister in 15 days with a list of ruling BSP leaders having "dubious" past and press for their removal. "Not long ago, the BSP had announced its so-called clean-up drive to rid the party of tainted leaders. We knew it was an eye-wash," UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi told reporters. Joshi came down heavily on explanation offered by the BSP surpemo that people with tainted background had been reformed after joining her party and hence there was no need for any stern action. "In 15 days, we will be preparing a list of tainted leaders who have been occupying prominent positions in the ruling BSP or the Mayawati government", she said.
