On Monday, 4 Congress Lok Sabha members were suspended for the rest of the Monsoon Session for displaying posters and playing havoc with proceedings despite warnings by Speaker Om Birla. The move is expected to further collapse the government-opposition relation, and could hit the proceedings of the Lok Sabha.
The Congress alleged that the directorate was trying to intimidate it for raising people’s issues and said that it would not be circumvented. Opposition protests over price rise, GST and other issues on Monday marred Lok Sabha proceedings for the 6th consecutive day. As the protesting Opposition members stalled proceedings after it reassembled following an adjournment of around twenty minutes, the Chair named Congress MPs Manickam Tagore from Tamilnadu, T.N.Prathapan, Jothimani and Ramya Haridas from Kerala.
When a member is named, he or she has to immediately withdraw from the House. The House issued the resolution by a voice vote and Agarwal announced their suspension. He then asked the members named in the resolution to immediately leave the House. Then the proceedings were adjourned for the day.
One of the suspended MPs, Mr Tagore said, “The Congress has been demanding a discussion on price rise for the past 6 days, giving notices for adjournment motion but the government has shown complete arrogance. We were trying to show placards in the House and place them in the camera angles. They say placards are not allowed in Parliament. What is allowed is only cheering for Modi ji.”