NEW DELHI: The suspension of eight Opposition MPs—seven Congress members and one from CPI-M - during the first part of the Budget session for “unruly behaviour” is likely to be revoked by Speaker Om Birla this week. The suspension may be withdrawn on Sunday and the MPs may meet the Speaker on Monday to explain the circumstances that led to their suspension, said sources.
During a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee on Friday, Congress’ chief whip, Kodikunnil Suresh, raised the issue with the Speaker and Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiran Rijiju and urged them to revoke the suspension.
“Rijiju has told the opposition that he would get back to them on the issue after consultations,” a source said.
On Thursday, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal, SP’s Dharmendra Yadav, NCP (SP)’s Supriya Sule, DMK’s Kanimozhi and TMC’s Shatabdi Roy met Rijiju and called for the suspension of to be revoked. Rijiju reportedly assured them that he would take up the matter with the Speaker.
The issue of suspended MPs remains the only sticking point between the Opposition and the government, sources said. It marked an escalation of the tussle between the government and the Opposition. They were suspended from the Lok Sabha on February 3 after they tore papers and threw them at the Chair. Their suspension from the House for the remaining part of the Budget session, which concludes on April 2, had intensified the face-off with the government over various issues.
The suspended MPs—Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Hibi Eden, C Kiran Kumar Reddy, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Prashant Padole and Dean Kuriakose and CPI-M’s S Ventakesan—have been protesting against the government on various issues while sitting on the steps of Parliament’s Makar Dwar. Many Opposition leaders, including LoP Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, have joined them.