Hyderabad: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has been appointed to a 31-member Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) formed to examine a set of contentious bills that propose the removal of any prime minister, chief minister or minister from office if they are under arrest for 30 consecutive days for an offence carrying a minimum sentence of five years.
The committee, chaired by Lok Sabha MP Aparajita Sarangi, will review three bills: the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, and the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill. The appointments were confirmed in a Lok Sabha Bulletin issued on Wednesday.
The bills, introduced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the Monsoon Session in August, sparked widespread protests from opposition parties. Owaisi, a vocal critic, had denounced the proposals in Parliament, calling them “draconian” and “anti-constitutional.”
“This government is bent on creating a police state,” he said in the Lok Sabha. “It violates the right to choose a government and is a death knell for any elected representative.”
The upcoming Winter Session is set to take place from December 1 to 19.