Congress revamps law department with Abhishek Manu Singhvi as chairman

The Congress on Saturday reconstituted its Law, Human Rights and RTI department, with Abhishek Manu Singhvi appointed as its chairman. The Congress had on 14 August nominated Abhishek Manu Singhvi as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha bypoll in Telangana.

The Law, Human Rights and RTI department includes the likes of senior lawyers Salman Khurshid, KTS Tulsi and Vivek Tankha.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has approved a proposal for the reconstitution of the AICC Law, Human Rights and RTI department with immediate effect, according to a statement issued by the party.

While Singhvi has been named the chairman of the department, the panel comprises Khurshid, Tankha, Tulsi, Harin Raval, Prashanto Sen, Devdatt Kamath and Vipul Maheshwari. The executive panel has Muhammad Ali Khan as its secretary.

Aman Panwar, Omar Hoda, Eesha Bakshi, Arjun Sharma, Nishant Mandal, Amit Bhandari, Tarannum Cheema, Ningombam Bupenda Meitei, Lalnunhlui Ralte and Swati Draik are members of the executive panel.

The reconstitution comes on a day when Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot granted permission to prosecute Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in connection with the alleged MUDA scam, according to Raj Bhavan.

In response, Siddaramaiah asserted that he had the full support of the State cabinet.

"The entire Cabinet, party high command, all MLAs, MLCs, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs are with me...," he told reporters on Saturday.

The Karnataka government has announced its intention to challenge the Governor's decision in the High Court. Siddaramaiah has maintained that "everything was done according to the law."

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar today said that the state government will put all their weight behind Siddaramaiah.

The complaint alleges wrongdoing by Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvathy, his brother-in-law Malikarjuna Swamy Devaraj, who claimed to be a landowner, and his family. It was further alleged that MUDA created fake documents and obtained plots worth crores of rupees. Snehamayi Krishna has raised several questions in his complaint.

(With agency inputs)