NEW DELHI: AAP MP Raghav Chadha was on Friday suspended from the Rajya Sabha for “gross violation of rules, misconduct, defiant attitude and contemptuous conduct”, pending a report by the Privileges Committee. His suspension came on a motion moved by Leader of the House Piyush Goyal and cleared by the Chairman of Rajya Sabha Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Goyal sought action against Chadha for including names of some members of the Upper House without their consent in a proposed select committee for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
The motion was passed by a voice vote in Rajya Sabha on the last day of the monsoon session. Chadha, in a presser on Thursday, dared the BJP to show him the paper on which he forged the signatures. He also termed the BJP a factory of rumours and lies.
On the row over the selection committee, he said, “Imagine that I organised my birthday party and invited 10 people; eight of them came and two didn’t accept my invitation, but instead they charged me saying ‘how dare you invite us to your birthday party?’ This is what happened. I just invited the MPs to be part of the committee. Neither were signatures needed nor were they submitted. If you hear anything to the contrary, it is the BJP’s dirty trick department at work.”
Later, Dhankar said, “I find it expedient to refer the matter to the Committee of Privileges… suspension order dated July 24 may continue beyond the current session till Council has the benefit of recommendation by the Committee of Privileges.”
Earlier, the House also approved the continuation of the suspension of senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh, pending the privileges committee report. Singh was suspended on July 24, four days after the Monsoon session of Parliament began. AAP MP Sushil Kumar Rinku was suspended from Lok Sabha for unruly behaviour on August 3.
Goyal informed the chair that Singh entered the well of the House 56 times and disobeyed the direction of the Chair. Goyal also said Chadha compromised the dignity of members and the august position of the House by his misconduct.
Opposition members opposed the suspension of MPs. Congress deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari said it is wrong to suspend members like this.
"Why has Raghav Chadha been suspended? Those members who had objections to their names (being included in the proposed select committee) could have gone to the chairman to say that they don't want to be part of the parliamentary panel.
"It is wrong to suspend Raghav Chadha in this manner. He will not enjoy several privileges available to an MP and neither will he be able to attend meetings of parliamentary committees," he said.
Tiwari said the entire opposition will raise the issue and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge will write to Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar against Chadha's suspension.
Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said it is absolutely unfortunate the way the BJP-led government continues to suspend opposition members for asking questions.
"It is for the first time in the history of parliamentary democracy that a leader of opposition in Lok Sabha has been suspended. It is unfortunate and uncalled for," she said.
JMM MP Mahua Maji also decried Chadha's suspension, saying it is unfortunate as he is a very active MP of the opposition.
Congress MP Rajeev Shukla said the manner in which opposition leaders are being suspended one after the other is not proper. The entire opposition is against the way opposition MPs are being suspended like this over small issues, he said.
(With additional inputs from PTI)