Comments
Both the Houses of Parliament witnessed disruptions for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday as the Congress pressed for an immediate discussion on the Delhi riots. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla suspended seven members of the Congress for snatching and tearing up papers from the table of the House.
In the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the House for the day after a statement by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Corona outbreak and a brief discussion on it. Naidu asked the media not to report the slogans raised amid the din by the Opposition members.
In the lower House, the Chair condemned the “gross misconduct” and “utter disregard” for rules and procedures by the seven Congress MPs--Gaurav Gogoi, TN Prathapan, Dean Kuriakose, Manicka Tagore, Rajmohan Unnithan, Benny Behanan and Gurjeet Singh Aujla. Presiding member Meenakshi Lekhi announced the Speaker’s decision at the House at around 3 pm. “Such unfortunate incident has possibly happened for the first time in the parliamentary history...I condemn this behaviour,” she said.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved a motion to suspend the members from the House for the rest of the Budget Session, which was opposed by members from Opposition parties. It said: “That this house having taken serious note of gross misconduct of these members’ utter disregard to the House and authority of the Chair and having been named by the Speaker resolve that these members be suspended from the service of the House for the remainder of the session.”
Meanwhile, the Congress members demanded suspension of Rajasthan MP Hanuman Beniwal for what they described were derogatory remarks against Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The Congress condemned the decision to suspend its members.
Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the Government imposed such a decision on the Speaker. “We saw revenge politics in House, orders were given by the chairperson to suspend seven Cong MPs for this session,” he said. “Whether suspending seven MPs is right, people will decide. We will not be scared and will continue to raise the Delhi riots issue,” he added.
In Rajya Sabha, before Vardhan read out a statement on the corona virus situation, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan said the Centre is ready to discuss the situation in Delhi on March 11 and 12. The Opposition, however, maintained that the discussion has to happen without taking up any other business.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.