New Delhi:
Striking a defiant note, Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal reiterated today that Parliament's "tendency to induct criminal MPs" was increasing.
"A total of 522 criminal cases are being carried in the court against 162 MPs of which 76 are of heinous nature. The tendency to induct criminal MPs into Parliament is being increased," he said while addressing a press conference at his home in Ghaziabad.
Mr Kejriwal today replied to the privilege notices served on him for calling MPs "murderers and looters" during Anna Hazare's fast on Sunday.
Parliament held discussion on Tuesday to express its outrage over remarks. Sushma Swaraj, whose party the BJP had supported Anna Hazare during his anti-corruption campaign, delivered a scathing indictment of the activists. In the Lok Sabha, she said that the activists describe Members of Parliament as rapists and thieves. It was the same MPs, she said, who agreed in August last year to consider 74-year-old Anna's vision of a new anti-corruption Lokpal Bill.
In his reply today, Mr Kejriwal said how can he respect the institution which has MPs with "criminal background". "There was a Parliament in which Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned (from the post of railway minister) following a train accident. I would like to sacrifice anything for such a Parliament but how will I respect Parliament of present days," Mr Kejriwal said.
There were angry responses from parliamentarians. "He is a frustrated and discarded person. We should not take notice of what he says. He will go mad in a few days," RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav said today.
"This (Team Anna) is the den of real criminals. Kejriwal and other leaders with him are criminals," said Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav outside Parliament today.
Another Team Anna member and Arvind Kejriwal's colleague, lawyer Prashant Bhushan, alleged that the privilege motion was being abused by parliamentarians.
He said the basic spirit of the provision of a privilege motion was to give freedom to MPs to raise questions.