NEW DELHI: As Parliament reconvenes for the rest of the Budget session on Monday, the Lok Sabha is set to consider a notice seeking Speaker Om Birla’s removal from office on the same day. Keeping the gravity of the issue in mind, the Congress issued a three line whip to all its MPs on Friday and asked them to be present in the House from March 9 to March 11.
According to the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the Congress MP R Mallu Ravi is listed on Monday to move a resolution seeking Birla’s removal from office for allegedly acting in a “blatantly partisan manner”. The Lok Sabha is likely to witness a rare moment when Birla will not chair the proceedings but be seated among the members as the House.
At least 118 opposition members had submitted a notice to move a resolution to remove Birla from office for not allowing Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and other leaders to speak in the House on the motion of thanks to the President’s address and for suspending eight opposition MPs.
Gaurav Gogoi, Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, chief whip K Suresh and whip Mohammed Javed had submitted the notice to the Lok Sabha Secretariat on behalf of several opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the DMK. However, Trinamool Congress MPs, however, did not sign the notice.
Speaking to the media, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, said the resolution follows the rules and conventions, with opposition MPs having cited specific instances of “partisan behavior” by the speaker, which call for a debate. “All the opposition parties, other than the Trinamool Congress, have signed the motion for the removal of the speaker,” said Ramesh.
Demand for discussion on West Asia situation
The Congress on Friday demanded that a full-fledged short duration discussion be held on the West Asian situation and asserted that a suo motu statement on behalf of the government would not suffice.