Thirty-three Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) were suspended from the Lok Sabha for the remainder of the Winter Session for causing disturbance in the House.
This comes after continuous protests by opposition members over the recent Parliament security breach and demands for a statement by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the matter.
Among the suspended MPs are Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, DMK MPs T R Baalu and Dayanidhi Maran, and TMC’s Saugata Roy.
Speaking about his suspension, Lok Sabha MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told news agency ANI, “All leaders, including me, have been suspended. We have been demanding for days to reinstate our MPs who were suspended earlier and that the Home Minister come to the House and give a statement (on Parliament security breach).”
He added, “Today, the government has reached the heights of tyranny.”
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Saturday denied links between the decision of the House to suspend some members and Parliament security breach incident.
“The suspension of the members is purely to uphold the sanctity of the House,” Om Birla said.
While 31 of them were suspended for the remainder of the Winter Session, three were suspended pending the report of the Privileges Committee. The three – K Jayakumar, Vijay Vasanth and Abdul Khaleque – had climbed on the Speaker’s podium to raise slogans.
The proposal for the suspension of these MPs was presented by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi in the House. It was later adopted by a voice vote.
In view of the protests by opposition MPs over the Parliament security breach, Lok Sabha has been adjourned for the day.
Notably, on December 14, a day after the Parliament security breach, 13 Lok Sabha MPs and one Rajya Sabha MP were suspended for “unruly conduct” in Parliament.
Manickam Tagore, Kanimozhi, PR Natrajan, VK Sreekandan, Benny Bahanan, K Subramanyam, S Venkatesan, and Mohammad Jawed are among the Parliament members who were suspended from the Lok Sabha. Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien is the lone MP suspended from the Rajya Sabha.
In total, 47 Opposition MPs, including one Rajya Sabha MP, have been suspended from the House for the rest of the Winter Session.
(With PTI inputs)
