A week after suspending them from the House for "unruly" behaviour, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday revoked the suspension of four Congress members, after seeking assurance from the Opposition that they will not bring placards to the House.
Birla also warned the members that he will take stringent action against those who violated the rules of procedure, which bars members from bringing any "exhibits" to the House.
Four Congress members -- Manickam Tagore, Ramya Haridas, T N Prathapan and S Jothimani were suspended last Monday from LS for the rest of the monsoon session for carrying placards and raising slogans inside the House.
The opposition in the Rajya Sabha had created a ruckus over the arrest of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut by ED besides other issues. Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi had given a suspension of business notice in Rajya Sabha under rule 267 citing the Centre's 'misuse' of investigative agencies for political agendas and detaining opposition leaders in a bid to silence them.
The move followed Raut's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials around last midnight in connection with a money laundering case pertaining to the Rs 1,034 crore Patra Chawl land scam case.
Congress MP Manish Tewari who began the price rise discussion alleged that the economy today is the result of eight years of economic mismanagement. "The government kept filling its coffers and lessening the pockets of the public," he said.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi last week assured that a discussion on price rise will take in Parliament once Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was down with Covid-19, returned. The minister then said that inflation in India is contained as compared to many other countries.
Sitharaman is now free of Covid as she was seen attending official events late last week, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's programme at GIFT City, Gujarat.
Coming to inflation, India's retail inflation has been over the Reserve Bank of India's upper tolerance band of 6 per cent for the sixth consecutive month in a row in June. Retail inflation came in at 7.01 per cent in June.
Wholesale inflation came in at 15.18 per cent in June, official data showed. June's wholesale inflation is marginally lower than the 15.88 per cent reported during the previous month.
The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation has been in the double-digit for 15 months in a row now.
During the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament, the proceedings were adjourned on multiple occasions amid ruckus by Opposition members over issues of inflation, price rise, and GST hike on daily essentials.
Leaders of opposition parties including the Congress, NCP, DMK, and Left raised slogans against the government demanding a rollback of the hike in GST rates on commodities like curd, bread, and paneer.
Both the Houses have been witnessing continuous adjournments without much productivity since the session has begun. Several Opposition parliamentarians had moved adjournment motion notice to the Speaker.