Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari on Friday agreed to the Opposition’s demand to send show-cause notices to a television channel and some newspapers after the MPs created a furore in the Upper House, claiming that the media houses had published and broadcast the expunged remarks of Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal on Hindu gods.

The MPs also want the matter sent to the Rajya Sabha’s privileges committee, reported The Indian Express.

Congress leader Anand Sharma argued that if 25 MPs make a demand, it automatically becomes a privilege matter under Article 105 of the Indian Constitution. “We are insisting,” he said. “We will insist that Rule 190 [of the Rajya Sabha] be invoked.”

Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien agreed with him, saying that expunged remarks cannot be published.

Agarwal, who had made the remarks on Wednesday, claimed that some members of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing had vandalised his house, and that a BJP worker had threatened him in Meerut. Congress MP Pramod Tiwari claimed that a BJP leader had filed a First Information Report against Agarwal in Meerut.