Independent MP and liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Monday resigned as Rajya Sabha MP.
This comes a week after the Rajya Sabha’s ethics committee decided to unanimously expel Mallya from Parliament. The committee had given him a week’s time to explain his conduct in the default on bank loans in excess of Rs. 9,000 crore extended to his Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.
The beleaguered liquor baron said he has written to Rajya Sabha chairman and its ethic committee announcing his decision to quit the Upper House. The ethics panel is in the process of deciding whether Mallya should be removed as a Member of Parliament.
His resignation comes in response to the Rajya Sabha ethics panel which had unanimously recommended termination of his membership from the House during a meeting on April 25.
“We have always been in dialogue with banks saying: ‘We wish to settle’. But we wish to settle at a reasonable number that we can afford and banks can justify on the basis of settlements done before,” Mr Mallya said in an interview to a newspaper last week.
Welcoming the decision, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Shaina NC said, “This will set a precedent. Mallya now must pay Rs 9000 crore dues to the banks.”
The government has already initiated process for Mallya’s deportation with the from UK High Commission in Delhi, citing the revocation of his passport and a non-bailable warrant against him. Mallya is believed to be in the UK after leaving India on March 2.
He was elected twice to the Upper House – once in 2002 and again in 2010.
“It has been decided that he should be expelled. All members agreed to it,” Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Sharad Yadav had told reporters after a meeting of the committee.
Following his failure to appear before a special court and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on three ocassions in the money laundering case, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had revoked Mallya’s passport.
A special court had also filed a non-bailable warrant against the beleaguered businessman.
