Opposition MPs stage protest over suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha members

Leaders of Opposition parties on Wednesday staged a protest next to Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliament premises seeking revocation of suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha members.

Among the MPs who participated in the agitation were Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Trinamool Congress’ Sougata Roy and Mohua Moitra and Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi.

“We are demanding the revocation of suspension of 12 Opposition members of the Rajya Sabha. We will hold a meeting and decide the future course of action,” Kharge said.

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The 12 MPs from the opposition parties were suspended from the remainder of Parliament’s winter session for allegedly creating ruckus on the last day of the monsoon session.

The suspension came after Union minister of parliamentary affairs Pralhad Joshi on Monday wrote to Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the Vice President, over the alleged violence on the last day of the monsoon session and sought action for the ‘indiscipline’.

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The suspended MPs include six from the Congress — Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, R Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain and Akhilesh Prasad Singh — TMC’s Dola Sen and Shanta Chhetri, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Anil Desai of the Shiv Sena and CPM’s Elamaram Kareem and Binoy Viswam of the CPI.