14 Opposition MPs suspended from Lok Sabha for remainder of Parliament’s Winter Session

Fourteen Opposition members of parliament were on Thursday suspended by the Lok Sabha Speaker for unruly behaviour.

These include 9 from the Congress, 2 from the CPIM, 2 from the DMK and one from the CPI. The Opposition is up in arms over Wednesday’s Lok Sabha security breach and has been demanding a statement from union home minister Amit Shah.

The Lok Sabha first passed a resolution suspending five members of parliament belonging to the Congress party — TN Prathapan, Hibi Eden, Dean Kuriakose, Jothi Mani and Ramya Haridas — for the remainder of the Parliament’s winter session, for displaying “utter disregard to the chair’s directions”.

“With your permission, I move the following: That this house has taken a serious note of the conduct of TN Prathapan, Hibi Eden, S Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and Dean Kuriakos in utter disregard of the house of the chair. The above mentioned members should be suspended from the service of the house for the remainder of the session,” said Pralhad Joshi, the union minister of parliamentary affairs, amid sloganeering by the opposition MPs.

Later, 9 members of parliament from opposition parties were suspended. They are: Benny Behanan, VK Sreekandan, Mohammad Jawed, PR Natarajan, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, K Subrahmanyam, SR Parthiban, S Venkatesan and Manickam Tagore.

The move comes hours after TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien was suspended for “unruly” conduct in the house.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar suspended the TMC MP for the remainder of the session after the Leader of the House Piyush Goyal moved a motion in this regard.

TMC MP Dola Sen later slammed the action against Derek O’Brien.

“This is about national security, it is our duty as opposition to raise the issue. If the Home Minister would have made a statement in the House, this situation would not have arisen. It is our right at opposition to raise the issue, so we went to the Well and raised slogans. If they want to suspend us for that they can do it,” she said.

Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said the Chairman should reconsider his decision.

“If MPs don’t raise their voice, what is the point? Two people, who came through a BJP MP, breached the security of the temple of democracy. Whether it was smoke bomb or colour bomb… a bomb reached the House,” said Tiwari.

Two intruders jumped into the chamber of the in-session Lok Sabha from the visitors’ gallery. They later opened a smoke canister before being overpowered by the members of parliament. They have been arrested.

The members of parliament belonging to opposition parties have slammed the government for the security breach and are demanding a statement by Shah. They also seek action against BJP MP Pratap Simha on whose recommendation the duo got an access pass to the Lok Sabha.