Who insults parliamentary procedures on daily basis, not us: Sibal to Dhankhar

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Sunday, 7 July, hit out at vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar over his criticism of Congress leader P Chidambaram's remarks on the new criminal laws, and said it was not the opposition that insults parliamentary procedures on a daily basis.

Sibal's remarks came a day after Dhankhar lashed out at Chidambaram over his comment that the three new criminal laws were "drafted by part-timers", terming it as "inexcusable" and urging him to withdraw his "derogatory, defamatory and insulting" observation.

Dhankhar had said he was "shocked beyond words" when he read Chidambaram's interview to a leading national daily wherein he had said that "the new laws were drafted by part-timers".

In a post on X, Sibal said Sunday, "Dhankar: Criticised Chidambaram's statement that part-timers drafted the three criminal laws was an 'inexcusable insult to the wisdom of Parliament'. We are all part-timers Dhankar ji!"

"And who insults parliamentary procedures on a daily basis? Not us!" said Sibal, a prominent opposition voice and an Independent Rajya Sabha MP.

Addressing an event in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, Dhankhar had referred to Chidambaram's remarks and said, "Are we part-timers in Parliament? It is an inexcusable insult to the wisdom of the Parliament...

"I do not have words strong enough to condemn such a narrative being set afloat and an MP being labelled as a part-timer."

"I appeal to him (Chidambaram) from this platform, please withdraw this derogatory, defamatory and highly insulting observations about the Members of Parliament (MPs). I hope he does it," the vice president had said.