NEW DELHI: With a record 19 Rajya Sabha members being suspended for a week on Tuesday for disrupting proceedings as they demanded discussions on a clutch of issues, including price rise, the stand-off between the Centre and the Opposition is set to intensify further.
Ever since the monsoon session began, the Opposition has been on its feet demanding discussions on price rise and levy of GST on essential items. The government, too, is ready for discussions as soon as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recovers from Covid.
Opposition leaders are scheduled to meet on Wednesday to discuss their future strategy in the wake of the suspension. They may join the suspended MPs who have been sitting in protest near the Gandhi statue within the Parliament complex. On Monday, four Congress members of the Lok Sabha were suspended for the rest of the session for displaying placards in the House.
After the first half of the Rajya Sabha proceedings were washed out, when Opposition members entered the Well of the House shouting slogans during the second half. Deputy chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh warned them of action. But the Opposition continued their protest seeking suspension of business to take up price rise.
As his pleas went unheeded, Harivansh asked the treasury benches to move a resolution for suspension. Minister of State for Parliamentary Af fairs V Muraleedharan moved a motion to suspend 10 MPs — seven from the Trinamool, two DMK and one CPI(M). Nine more names were added before the motion was put to vote.
The 19 MPs include M Mohamed Abdulla, S Kalyanasundaram, R Girirajan, N R Elango, M Shanmugam and Kanimozhi N V N Somu (all DMK); B Lingaiah Yadav, Ravichandra Vaddiraju and Damodar Rao Divakonda (all TRS); A A Rahim and V Sivadasan (all CPM) and Sandosh Kumar P of CPI. After the suspension, the MPs refused to leave, squatting on the floor of the House leading to adjournment for the day. AAP member Sanjay Singh was seen tearing up a paper and flinging it toward the chair.
Previous high was 12
This is the highest number of suspensions in one go in the Rajya Sabha; the previous record was 12 MPs during the winter session in November last year