Suspended Rajya Sabha MPs to stage protest in front of Gandhi statue on Parliament premises

The political battle over the suspension of Rajya Sabha MPs will continue outside the Parliament as 12 suspended MPs from the Rajya Sabha have decided to sit on a protest in front of Gandhi statue on Parliament premises.

Sources said that the MPs will sit on a dharna from 10 am. Leaders of various Opposition parties will also be joining the protests. Congress party has asked all the MPs from Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha to be there as a mark of solidarity for them.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) party has announced that their two MPs who have been suspended from the Rajya Sabha will sit on dharna till the whole session. However, the situation is not clear about the other MPs of the opposition parties.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has called the meeting of the floor leaders of like-minded opposition parties at his office to check out the strategy as the opposition parties have termed this move as "illegal," sources said.

Kharge has written a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu explaining the reasons and the provisions of the Constitution. Kharge claimed it as an "illegal step" to suspend the 12 MPs. Several Opposition parties in Rajya Sabha boycotted the proceedings on Tuesday. In Lok Sabha, opposition parties walked out from the House demanding to revoke the suspension of Rajya Sabha MPs.

On the first day of the winter session, 12 opposition MPs were suspended for the whole session by the chair for misconduct during the monsoon session. Despite the demand of the opposition parties, the chair has taken a decision that his decision is correct.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the action was needed to maintain the dignity of the House. But the opposition parties said the suspended MPs have not done anything wrong and have followed the rules of the House and will not apologize to the chair.

The 12 members were suspended for alleged unruly conduct towards the end of the monsoon session in August when marshals were called after Opposition members stormed into the well of the House during the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021.

The suspended members comprise six from the Congress, two each from Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, and one each from CPI and CPM: 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.

( With inputs from ANI )