Parliament Winter Session: The suspension of Lok Sabha MP SR Parthiban's has been revoked as he was mistakenly suspended for the rest of the Winter Session of the Parliament. Now a total of 13 lawmakers have faced suspension of unruly conduct in the Lower House.
As many as 14 opposition MPs have been suspended from Parliament for the remainder of the Winter session for disrupting proceedings as the Lok Sabha security breach incident snowballed into a major row today with the government asking the opposition not to "politicise" the "grave national issue" and the Congress, TMC and others demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah.
While TMC's Derek O'Brien was suspended in the Rajya Sabha, as many as 13 opposition MPs, including nine from the Congress and DMK's Kanimozhi, were suspended from the Lok Sabha for disrupting the proceedings.
Amid opposition protests, demanding a statement from Home Minister Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the security breach incident, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved two resolutions separately for the suspension of the MPs for disrupting the Lok Sabha proceedings.
The MPs had moved into the well of the Lok Sabha raising slogans, questioning the security breach, and demanding a statement from the government.
While TN Prathapan, Hibi Eden, Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and Dean Kuriakose, all from the Congress, were suspended when the first resolution was adopted, four Congress MPs --VK Sreekandan, Benny Behanan, Mohammed Jawaid and Manickam Tagore-- along with PR Natarajan (CPI-M), Kanimozhi (DMK), K Subbarayan (CPI), and S Venkatesan (CPI-M) were suspended through the second resolution.
Several opposition MPs also claimed later that Parthiban was named among the suspended MPs even though he is not present in Delhi and is in Chennai.
Soon after the Rajya Sabha House met at noon after an adjournment, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar warned O'Brien against his unruly behaviour and for disrupting the proceedings. He asked O'Brien to leave the House, but the opposition MP did not relent and protested instead.
The chairman then allowed Leader of the House Piyush Goyal to move a motion to suspend O'Brien under Rule 256. The motion to suspend O'Brien for the remainder of the session was adopted with a voice vote.
O'Brien did not leave the Rajya Sabha chambers even after suspension and the matter of his conduct was referred to the Privileges Committee of the House. The committee has been asked to submit a report on O'Brien's conduct in three months.
On Wednesday, two persons jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors' gallery, shouted slogans and released coloured smoke from canisters that triggered panic and chaos in the House.
In a statement, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Joshi said "We all agree" that the unfortunate incident on Wednesday was a serious one concerning the safety and security of MPs.
Joshi said it should be appreciated that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla promptly held a meeting with floor leaders following the incident and listened to the suggestions for further strengthening Parliament security.
Some of the suggestions given by MPs have already been implemented, he said, and noted that the Speaker himself has stated that further measures will be taken to strengthen the security of Parliament.
With inputs from PTI
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