New Delhi, Mar 16: Congress leader K C Venugopal urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday to revoke the suspension of eight opposition members, saying they were suspended “unfairly”.
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Venugopal said Parliament has seen countless protests but suspending MPs is a “disturbing new trend” that cannot be allowed to continue.
Birla said a decision of the Lok Sabha cannot be discussed on the floor of the House and disallowed Venugopal to speak further.
Later, in a post on X, the Congress leader said he had raised concern over the “unfair suspension of 8 Opposition MPs for this Session”.
“Rose in the Lok Sabha to raise concern over the unfair suspension of 8 Opposition MPs for this Session. Parliament has seen countless protests but the suspension of MPs is a disturbing new trend, which cannot be allowed to continue. This suspension should be revoked immediately,” he said.
The eight opposition members were suspended during the first part of the Budget Session for “unruly” behaviour. They were suspended for the entire session.
The suspended members are Gurjeet Singh Auja, Hibi Eden, C Kiran Kumar Reddy, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Prashant Padole, Dean Kuriakose (all from the Congress) and S Ventakesan (CPI-M).
The suspended MPs have been protesting against the government on various issues while sitting on the steps of Parliament’s Makar Dwar. Several opposition leaders, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have joined them from time to time.
