Ctizenship row:Parliament Ethics Panel issues notice to Rahul Gandhi

Mangalore Today News Network

Mar 14, 2016: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was served a show-cause notice by the ethics committee of Parliament on Monday asking whether he had declared himself a British citizen to float a firm in the UK.

A member of the parliamentary ethics committee, headed by veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani, Arjun Ram Meghwal told ANI it was a very serious matter and the committee would discuss the further course of action once the Congress vice-president responds.

“A complaint reached the Lok Sabha speaker which she forwarded to the parliamentary ethics committee. The ethics committee, therefore, issued a show-cause notice asking him to respond to as to how he showed his British citizenship when he was about to become the director of a company in London,” Meghwal told ANI.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had accused Gandhi of declaring himself a British citizen to float a firm in that country. He had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded that Gandhi should be stripped of his Indian citizenship and his membership of Parliament.

Swamy alleged that Gandhi had floated a company called Backops Limited in 2003 in the United Kingdom, and in the annual return form, he had declared himself to be of British nationality with a UK address. Rahul also held 65% of the total shares issued by this company, Swamy had claimed.