"Should have been stripped off primary membership of party": JD(U)’s Rajiv Ranjan amid row over Bidhuri rant

New Delhi: Wading into the controversy around BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri's alleged diatribe against BSP lawmaker Danish Ali in the Lok Sabha, JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan on Saturday said he should have been stripped off the primary membership of the saffron party.

Speaking to ANI on Saturday, the JD(U) leader said, "It was extremely shameful and improper for the BJP MP to behave the way he did while the Lok Sabha was in session. The entire incident was caught on camera and the BJP should strip him of his primary membership of the party at the earliest. He should have been expelled by now by the BJP. He should also have been dismissed as a member of Parliament."

Responding to Bidhuri's alleged abuse rant against the BSP MP, the Congress' Maharashtra chief Nana Patole on Friday said his remarks were "dangerous for a democracy".

"We strongly oppose the way the BJP MP abused the Opposition member in Parliament. The BJP should change its mentality. It doesn't bode well for a democracy if a member demonstrates such a dangerous mentality in the Parliament," Patole said.

Bidhuri's remarks against Danish Ali during a discussion on the country's successful lunar landing mission, 'Chandrayan-3', in the Lok Sabha on Thursday triggered outrage in the Opposition, with the Congress, NCP, TMC and DMK urging Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to act against the BJP leader and demanding that the matter should be sent to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee.
Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, DMK leader Kanimozhi, NCP MP Supriya Sule and TMC's Aparupa Poddar said strictest action should be taken against Bidhuri for his alleged unparliamentary remarks against the BSP MP.
In a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker, Adhir Chowdhury urged him to have the matter examined in detail by the Privileges Committee and take punitive action against him.
The Congress leader added that such words have never been used against a member of a minority community, and, that too, in the presence of the Speaker.
Amid a firestorm of protest from the Opposition, the BJP issued a show cause notice to Bidhuri on the instruction of party president JP Nadda for his alleged abusive rant at the BSP MP, sources said.

Bidhuri's communally insensitive remarks were expunged from the proceedings of the Lok Sabha.
Danish Ali also wrote to Birla, terming the BJP leader's attack on him as “heartbreaking".

"This is most unfortunate and the fact that it has happened in a new parliament building under your leadership as Speaker is truly heartbreaking for me as a minority member of this great nation and an elected member of Parliament as well,” Ali wrote in his letter to the Speaker.
"I, therefore, intend to give this Notice under rules 222, 226, and 227 of the rules of procedures and conduct of business in Lok Sabha and direction of the Speaker against Ramesh Bidhuri, MP," he added in his letter.