NEW DELHI: The BJP on Monday accused Congress members of bringing "shame" to Lok Sabha with their "unruly" conduct after MPs of the opposition party jostled with marshals, following the speaker's decision to evict two of them from the House.
Speaking to reporters, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad appealed to all parties to maintain the sanctity and great traditions of Lok Sabha, asserting that Parliament cannot be allowed to become a place for "unruly" behaviour.
He was joined by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and Arjun Ram Meghwal, Joshi's deputy, and also rejected the Congress' claim that the marshals misbehaved with its woman MPs in the House, saying "everybody saw what happened".
"We outright condemn the reprehensible conduct of these MPs," Prasad said and also criticised senior Congress leaders who did "nothing" to prevent them.
"These members have shamed Lok Sabha in front of the country," he said.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, both MPs, were in Lok Sabha during the incident.
Prasad said the speaker repeatedly appealed to Congress members to remove a banner they held across the Well and tried to stop others from asking questions when the House convened for the Question Hour.
"The way they behaved, the way they treated the marshals is height of indiscipline," he said.
Speaker Om Birla had asked the marshals to remove Congress MPs Hibi Eden and T N Prathapan, who were holding a big banner with 'stop murder of democracy' slogan, from the House.
However, other members joined them in resisting the attempt to evict the two Congress MPs.
The Congress was protesting in Parliament against the swearing-in of a BJP-led government in Maharashtra.
Prasad also hit back at the opposition party over its allegation of "murder of democracy" against the BJP.
He said it was the Congress, not the BJP, which "murdered" democracy in the state as it joined hands with the Shiv Sena to "steal" people's mandate which, Prasad added, was for a BJP-Sena government with Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister.
The Sena was driven by political greed and joined hands with the Congress even though moral and electoral mandate was in favour of a BJP-led government, he asserted.
"If the Congress has guts then it should defeat us in elections.
It should not steal the mandate," Prasad said.