Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday lashed out at Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan over the cancellations of a Parliamentary Standing Committee meeting, headed by him. 

Mahajan asked Tharoor to cancel the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, which was to evaluate the four key witnesses on the Doklam military build-up by China. 

“Speaker has rights under rules. But some members are concerned that other committees’ meetings are at the same time and only ours is cancelled. I have written to her and I want it to be confidential,” miffed Tharoor told ANI.
The meeting, which was to be organised for February 9 was expected to examine a former army chief, a former foreign secretary and a former ambassador, besides a cyber expert. 

Explaining the reason behind the cancelation of the meeting, Lok Sabha Speaker Mahajan, said, “Many members raised concern as the meeting was called on a very short notice. The Budget discussion and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement scheduled for the day (February 8) are among other reasons behind the cancellation of the meeting.