Songs, conversations and mosquitoes: Suspended Opposition MPs spend night in Parliament under open sky

By Rajnish Singh
New Delhi, July 28 : Suspended Opposition MPs spent Wednesday night in the Parliament complex beneath an open sky in shifts to mark their strong protest against the central government which they claimed was not ready to hold discussion over key issues like price rise and increased GST rates.
The 50-hour long sit-in, which is likely to end around 5 pm on Friday, continued in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue inside Parliament premises.
Among the MPs who spent the night outside were Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh, Trinamool Congress leaders Santanu Sen, Dola Sen, Abir Ranjan Biswas and Derek O'Brien as well as the TRS's Ravichandra Vaddiraju. Some leaders from the DMK and Left parties were also part of the group.
The protesting MPs excercised diverse options for their dinner. While some ordered eatables from outlets like Wengers and Haldiram, others received homemade food. The MPs slept on a plastic carpet covered with mattresses and bedsheets in the grassy space near the Gandhi statue.
However, in the unusual setting many took quite a while before they could enjoy a wink. Many of the MPs passed most of the night chatting with each other, singing songs while braving the humid weather and hordes of mosquitoes.
A total of 20 MPs, who were suspende from the Rajya Sabha for the week, had started the sit-in protest Wednesday afternoon. This is learnt to be the highest number of single-batch suspensions in the Upper House.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh was suspended on Wednesday while 19 other Opposition MPs were suspended on Tuesday.
Of the 20 MPs, seven belong to TMC, six from DMK, three TRS, two CPM and one each from CPI and AAP.
TMC's Sushmita Dev, Mausam Noor, Shanta Chhetri, Dola Sen, Santanu Sen, Abir Ranjan Biswas, Md. Nadimul Haque; DMK's Kanimozhi NVN Somu, M Hamamed Abdulla, S Kalyanasundaram, R Girranjan, NR Elango, M Shanmugam, M Shanmugam; TRS's B Lingaiah Yadav, Ravihandra Vaddiraju, Damodar Rao Divakonda; CPI(M)'s A.A. Rahim, V Sivadasan; and CPI's Sandosh Kumar P.
Besides 20 Rajya Sabha MPs, four were also suspended from Lok Sabha. The MPs suspended from Lok Sabha are Congress's Manickam Tagore, Ramya Haridas, TN Prathapan and S Jothimani. They were suspended for the rest of the session on July 26 for displaying placards in the House.
AAPs Sanjay Singh told ANI that all the 20 suspended MPs from Rajya Sabha would continue their 50-hour long sit-in till Friday afternoon and that the Modi government should apologize to the people of Gujarat over the spurious liquor tragedy.