London: The government of India must make
constitutional provisions for nominating a representative of
non-resident Indians to Indian Parliament, the President of
the Indian Overseas Congress (London) D L Kalhan has said.
Speaking at a reception hosted in honour of Gulchain
Singh Charak, permanent invitee to the Congress Working
Committee and the in-charge of the Punjab, Chandigarh and
Bihar Congress, at the Indian Gymkhana Club last evening,
Kalhan said: "NRIs holding Indian passports must have their
representative in Parliament and the Indian government must
make a constitutional provision for it."
Kalhan said, "The IOC was instrumental in getting voting
rights for NRIs holding Indian passports."
He regretted that no one was giving any importance to
tapping NRIs` vote or the influence they could have back home.
Answering a query regarding the demand for NRI
representation in the Indian Parliament, Charak said the
matter needed a thorough study and he would take it up with
the concerned authorities.
Addressing the gathering, Charak said a series of
measures have been taken recently to strengthen the Congress
organisation in Punjab and Bihar and expressed confidence that
the Congress party would return to power with an absolute
majority in Punjab in the Assembly elections expected next
February.
"The atmosphere in Punjab is in favour of Congress and
the party will come back to power with a good majority," he
said.
Noting that Congress has "adopted" a policy of "zero
tolerance" as far as corruption is concerned, Charak said,
"The party has not pardoned any person facing corruption
charges."
He said people in Punjab were "fed up of the Akali
government because of its misrule, lawlessness and
corruption".
The people are in favour of the Congress party "because
they want a secular government and only Congress could provide
it."
He said the Congress Party would organise a "parivartan
yatra (movement for change)" from October 1 in all 170
Assembly constituencies in Punjab.
According to him, the BJP leadership was "involved in
corruption" and many were facing court cases.
Leading Labour Party MP Virendra Sharma, Indian Overseas
Congress Chairman Manjit Lit, IOC Councillor Sunil Chopra, IOC
General Secretary Ajmer Dhillon and IOC Senior Vice-President
and Councillor Satpal Parmar also spoke on the occasion.
Councillor Chopra said India has made rapid progress and
"we are proud of it."
He wanted the Indian government to take effective steps
to curb alleged corruption in the country.
"The government should also take steps to ensure that the
common man`s basic needs are met," he said.
Councillor Dhillon said Congress is the only party which
could keep the country together.
Kalhan presented Charak with a shawl on the occasion.
Prominent among the attendees were leading NRI solicitor
Hari Singh, well-known physician Dharmendra Tripathi and
entrepreneur J S Malhotra.
PTI
