Rajya Sabha suspends 19 Oppn MPs for misconduct

A total of 19 Opposition members of the Rajya Sabha were suspended on Tuesday for the remaining part of the week for their unruly behaviour in the house. They include TMC, DMK and TRS member Lingaiah Yadav.  When the house met at 2 P.M., Opposition members including TMC, Aam Aadmi Party, Left, DMK and others again trooped to the well, raising slogans against the government over the issues of price rise, GST hike on essential items.Deputy Chairman Harivansh repeatedly asked for order in the house, but the protesting members did not pay heed. He warned them of disrupting the proceedings. He said, the Chair will have to invoke Rule 256 against them for continuously disrupting the proceedings. As ruckus continued, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V. Muraleedharan moved a motion under Rule 256 to suspend protesting members for showing disregard against the Chair and their unruly behaviour in the house. The house accepted the motion with a voice vote. As the suspended members refused to leave the house, it was adjourned for 15 minutes till 2.38 P.M. When the house reassembled, the suspended members were still in the well.

"The decision to suspend opposition MPs from Rajya Sabha was taken with a heavy heart. They kept on ignoring the Chairman's appeals," BJP's Piyush Goyal said. "The government is ready for a debate on price rise once Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recovers and returns to parliament," said Mr Goyal, leader of the house in Rajya Sabha. This is the first time in several years that action has been taken against so many parliamentarians. In January 2019, the then Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 45 Members of the TDP and AIADMK for disrupting proceedings for days.