Suspension of 12 MPs against Article 85 of Constitution, says Mallikarjun Kharge

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said that the suspension of 12 MPs from the Upper House was against Article 85 of the Constitution.

Addressing mediapersons here, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) said, "Suspension is against Article 85 of Constitution. Still, they are not adamant. We do not want the House to function like this, but they are forcing us so that the House does not function and no issues are raised, be it of farmers, Pegasus, inflation, fuel prices, Nagaland."

Kharge further said that all Opposition has boycotted the House today and they will further decide about boycotting the House tomorrow.

"Today we raised the issue once again that this is not right and suspension should be revoked. I appeal once again that we are ready to let House function. All Opposition has boycotted the House today and we will sit with suspended MPs for the entire day. We will decide about tomorrow," he said.

He further said the suspension of MPs from the House is against the rules.

"We have been continuously putting forth our views in the House regarding the revocation of suspension of our MPs and we have requested the Chairman several times that we are not at fault, still, we have been punished. I have also said that the suspension is against rules," he added.

The LoP further said that MPs has not committed any mistake or violated any rules.

"Nobody has committed any mistake or violated rules. Everybody has the right to protest. They (BJP) did it during (Arun) Jaitley's time, justifying disruption as a part of democracy. Out of 12 (suspended) MPs, none threw papers or broke mic," he added.

The 12 suspended Rajya Sabha MPs continued their protest against their suspension, at the Gandhi Statue in Parliament premises.

The protest of the 12 suspended MPs was briefly joined by Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan, Congress party MP P Chidambaram and Trinamool Congress MP Sushmita Dev.

The suspended members include - Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, Ripun Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of Congress; Dola Sen, Shanta Chhetri of Trinamool Congress; Priyanka Chaturvedi, Anil Desai of Shiv Sena; Elamaram Kareem of CPM; and, Binoy Viswam of CPI.

Since their suspension, all the 12 MPs have been regularly visiting the Parliament and keep sitting near the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliament.

On November 29, the members were suspended for alleged unruly conduct towards the end of the monsoon session in August when marshals were called after Opposition members stormed the Well of the House during the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021.

Meanwhile, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday reiterated that if the suspended Rajya Sabha MPs apologize, their suspension will be revoked.

( With inputs from ANI )