NEW DELHI: After five Congress members were suspended from Lok Sabha for the remainder of winter session earlier on Thursday, nine more opposition MPs were suspended from the House for the same period for “unruly conduct”.
The motion for suspension of nine opposition MPs — Benny Behanan, V K Sreekandan, Mohammad Jawed, P R Natarajan, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, K Subrahmanyam, S R Parthiban, S Venkatesan and Manickam Tagore — was moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi.
The MPs were suspended soon after the House met at 3 pm following its adjournment earlier. The House was later adjourned for the day.
#WATCH | On suspension of 15 MPs from the House, JD(U) MP Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh says, "The suspensions have been done for the government to hide its failures. They want to scare the Opposition. You can't govern by creating fear. If Opposition MPs were demanding a statement… pic.twitter.com/ljVF4yZ5Gh
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2023
Earlier, five Congress members were suspended from Lok Sabha for “unruly behaviour” for the remainder of the winter session. Joshi had moved motion for their suspension.
He moved the motion after apprising the House of the steps taken in the wake of yesterday’s incident of a security breach in which two men jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitor’s gallery. The opposition has been demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah.
#WATCH | On her suspension from Lok Sabha for the remainder of the winter session, DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi says, "There is an MP who has actually given the passes for these (accused of Parliament security breach) people to come in. No action has been taken against that MP.… pic.twitter.com/UtG9m1otxp
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2023
The motion was moved soon after the House met at 2 pm following an adjournment earlier in the day. Joshi moved the motion to suspend Congress MPs — T N Prathapan, Hibi Eden, S Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and Dean Kuriakose — for the remainder of the winter session, which will conclude on December 22.
The BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab was on the chair when the motion was moved and adopted amid sloganeering by opposition members.
Joshi said that Speaker Om Birla has written to the Home Secretary for a high-level inquiry into yesterday’s incident and the probe has begun. He cited instances from the past, including when papers were thrown from the visitor’s gallery, and such unfortunate incidents had occurred earlier too. He called upon opposition members not to “politicise” the issue.
Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien has been suspended for the remainder of the session in Rajya Sabha for “gross misconduct”. The winter session of Parliament will conclude on December 22. (ANI)