Mumbai: Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut has written to the vice-president, M. Venkaiah Naidu, complaining that his seating arrangement in the Rajya Sabha has been changed to “humiliate” him.
He claimed that his party’s exit from the NDA has not been formally announced, yet.
Mr Raut’s seating position in the Rajya Sabha has been changed from the third to the fifth row. But he has asked to be moved upto the first, second or third row so that he can “raise the voice of distress of the poor people of Maharashtra effectively” in the House.
Pointing out that he has been a senior member of the Rajya Sabha since 2004, Mr Raut wrote, “I was astonished to know that my seating position in the Rajya Sabha chamber has been changed from the third to the fifth row. This decision was taken by someone deliberately to hurt the Shiv Sena’s sentiments and suppress our voice.”
“I also fail to understand the reason for this unwarranted step of reallocation of seats since there is no formal announcement about removal from the NDA. It may also be noted that no such decision has been taken yet by the presiding officer of the Lok Sabha,” Mr Raut said in the letter to Mr Naidu, who is the chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
Mr Raut said that even when the NDA was in the Opposition, he was allotted the third row in the House in view of his seniority in the Rajya Sabha. Now, however, it was clear that his seat had been moved to the fifth row to humiliate him and his party’s status in the house.
The act tarnished the image and sanctity of the country’s democratic system, he said.
Sources in the Rajya Sabha secretariat said that the decision to change the seats of Sena members was taken on the recommendation of the ministry of parliamentary affairs.
