long absence of nominated MPs, including cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and actress Rekha, from the Rajya Sabha invited criticism from MPs on Thursday. Raising the issue, Naresh Agrawal (SP) went to the extent of asking them to resign if they cannot attend the House.
Registering his objection, the SP member said he has not seen the nominated members including eminent cricketer and actress attend the proceedings in this session. He raised the issue through a ‘point-of-order’ when the House met for the day.
“If they are not coming, does it mean they are not interested and if they are not interested, then shouldn’t they resign,” he asked. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said this was not a point of order and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi quipped it was point of “disorder.”
Kurien also urged Agrawal to use his good offices to convince the nominated members to be present in the House for some days. The SP member said if the Chair so suggests, he will write to the members on the issue.
As many as 12 persons with special knowledge or practical experience on matters like literature, science, art and social service are nominated to the Upper House.
Besides Tendulkar and Rekha, other nominated members include Anu Aga, Sambhaji Chhatrapati, Swapan Dasgupta, Roopa Ganguly, Narendra Jadhav, M C Mary Kom, K Parasaran, Gopi Suresh, Subramanian Swamy and KTS Tulsi.
