Congress members of Parliament, on Monday, walked out of the Rajya Sabha in protest against the ongoing standoff over the suspension of 12 MPs from the Upper House. Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of the Opposition, claimed the government had refused to reconsider the suspension. 

Kharge said the opposition has repeatedly asked the chair to rethink the suspension of MPs accused of interrupting the proceedings on the last day of the Monsoon session, speaking in the house shortly after it started for business.

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“… You are the custodian of this house, the government cannot dictate what we should do or not do. Our deputy leader has already spoken to you and also to the leader of the house but they are repeatedly refusing to concede our request. They are putting blame on us…it is not good therefore, I can say that the government is adamant and they want to provoke us to disturb the house. In protest we walk out.”

Anand Sharma of the Congress and Tiruchi Siva of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) had previously urged the chairman to reconsider the suspension of the MPs. Both leaders agreed that the administration needed to find a way to break the impasse. 

MPs from the opposition also requested a response from House Leader Piyush Goyal. Later, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted that the opposition had called for a walkout so that Zero Hour could continue in the House. “But somewhat mysteriously, the House got adjourned yet again!,” he tweeted, referring to the adjournment of the Rajya Sabha till noon. 

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Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, Ripun Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain, and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of the Congress, CPI(M) MP Elamaram Kareem of the CPI, CPI’s Binoy Viswam, Dola Sen, and Shanta Chhetri of the TMC, and Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi were suspended for the remainder of the Winter session, a day earlier. This was in relation to their suspected role in the August 11 commotion in the Rajya Sabha. The opposition parties claimed that marshals assaulted female MPs, but the Centre denied this.