BJP MP Anil Agarwal's name 'misused' to retain Shashi Tharoor as chairman of IT parliamentary panel

New Delhi: BJP MP Anil Agarwal on Monday refuted reports of him signing or writing a letter in favour of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor continuing as chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Information Technology.

Agarwal's denial came days after DMK MP T Sumathy, a member of the parliamentary panel, tweeted the letter containing the names of five parliamentarians, including the BJP MP. The letter requested Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to retain Tharoor as chairman of the panel. Retweeting Sumathy's tweet, Tharoor had thanked all five MPs for their solidarity.

Thank you, Sumathy @ThamizhachiTh, @AnilagrwalMPBJP, @JohnBrittas, @KartiPC & @MahuaMoitra for this kind act of solidarity. I'm dismayed by theGovt's unusual decision to change a Chairman midway through the 17th LokSabha. Parliamentary democracy is ill-served by such intolerance. https://t.co/0JVaJ2AY0K

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 24, 2022

Agarwal on Monday wrote to Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, Piyush Goyal claiming that he has not written or signed any letter in favour of Tharoor.

Stating that he is a loyal soldier of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Agarwal noted that he will never take any such step which will hurt the party's image or amount to indiscipline.

According to reports, the Congress may be given some other parliamentary standing committee in place of the IT panel. Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had last week written to Birla, protesting against any such move.