As a mark of protest over the suspension of eight Rajya Sabha MPs, members of the Opposition staged a walkout on Tuesday. Eight Opposition MPs, including TMC’s Derek O’Brien and AAP’s Sanjay Singh have been suspended by RS Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu for “unruly behaviour” with deputy Chairman Harivansh Singh.

Following the address of the Leader of Opposition (LoP) and Congress MP Ghulam Nabi Azad, who called for MPs’ suspension to be revoked, Opposition members staged a walkout to protest in front of the Gandhi statue in the Parliament premises. Nabi said that the Opposition will boycott the session till their demands are not met. 

Other than the revovation of MPs’ suspension, Nabi enumerated other demands of the Opposition, ANI reported. The Opposition has demanded that the government should bring a bill  under which no private players could purchase farmers’ produce below the Minimum Support Price (MSP). 

The second demand is that the MSP should be fixed as per the formula recommended by the Swaminathan Commission. Enumerating the third demand, Nabi said that government agencies like Food Corporation of India (FCI) shouldn’t be able to buy crops below the MSP.

The present row was sparked over the passage of two farm bills. The Opposition has said that the deputy Chairman didn’t follow the democratic processes during the passage of the bills.

Farmers in Punjab and Haryana are protesting over the bills.