It's collective decision of Opposition to appeal against illegal suspension of 12 MPs: Rajya Sabha LoP Kharge
Dec 17, 2021
New Delhi [India], December 17 : Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said that it is a collective decision of the opposition to appeal to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu against the 'illegal' suspension of 12 MPs.
"We had a short discussion where I demanded the government to revoke the suspension but they are not ready to talk about it. It is a collective decision of the opposition to make an appeal against the illegal suspension of 12 MPs," Kharge said.
The Congress MP said, "The government is agreeing in the notice that MPs were suspended on the incident that happened during the last session. They want the suspended members to apologize one by one in the House but they are not going to do anything of that sort."
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day on Friday with an announcement from the Chair to meet at 11 am on Monday, citing a decision taken in a meeting held earlier in the day with the government and opposition leaders.
The meeting was held earlier in the day to find a solution regarding the uproar created in the House by the Opposition parties in previous days.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu made the announcement soon after the House assembled for the day at 11 am and papers were laid on the table as well as government mentioned the business for next week.
Reading a statement, Naidu said: "Today, I talked to the Leader of the House and Opposition party members to conduct smooth and peaceful proceedings in the House..."
Naidu said it was discussed in the meeting to find a solution to the issue being raised by the Opposition parties and maintain peace and smooth functioning during House proceedings.
Subsequently, the Rajya Sabha Chairman adjourned the House till 11 am on Monday (December 20).
In previous days the House faced disruption on various issues, especially over the revocation of suspension of 12 MPs.
In a move that angered the Opposition and set the stage for acrimonious exchanges, a dozen members of Opposition parties in Rajya Sabha were suspended from the winter session on the very first day on Monday following a motion brought in by the government.
The members were suspended for alleged unruly conduct towards the end of the monsoon session in August when marshals were called after Opposition members stormed the Well of the House during the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021.
The suspended members comprise six from the Congress, two each from Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, and one each from CPI and CPM: Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, Ripun Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of Congress; Dola Sen, Shanta Chhetri of Trinamool Congress; Priyanka Chaturvedi, Anil Desai of Shiv Sena; Elamaram Kareem of CPM; and, Binoy Viswam of CPI.
All the suspended 12 MPs used to sit near Mahatma Gandhi statue inside the Parliament premises since they were suspended from the House, and the Opposition parties have been relentlessly disrupting House proceedings every day over the issue barring a few occasions.
