Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was suspended from Lok Sabha on Thursday for ‘unruly’ conduct.
The suspension was in response to a resolution moved by BJP leader Pralhad Joshi, which was accepted in Parliament on Thursday. He will remain suspended until the Privileges Committee submits its report on the matter.
Meanwhile, Congress called the action against its floor leader 'unbelievable' and 'undemocratic'.
Congress whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore said, "First time for speaking against Modi, largest opposition (party) leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury suspended.
Unbelievable.Undemocratic.Condemn the autocracy."
Taking reference from Mahabharata, Chowdhury said that the king should not be blind to what is happening against women whether it is in Hastinapur or Manipur. His comments evoked a sharp reaction from home minister Amit Shah who urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to ask Chowdhury to exercise restraint and maintain the decorum of the House.
Chowdhury responded by saying why Shah was getting angry when the Prime Minister had no issues with his speech. Later, Speaker Om Birla expunged certain remarks of Chowdhury.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Joshi accused Adhir of making baseless charges against the government. He also accused him of trying to lower the dignity of the government.
Joshi said. " There are no facts in his arguments and he never apologizes. Today also, we demanded that he apologize. He did the same thing when the home minister was speaking".
The opposition had earlier walked out of the House when the prime minister was replying to the debate on the no-confidence motion, complaining that there was no reference to Manipur in the first 90 minutes of his speech.
(With inputs from PTI)