‘Decision taken with a heavy heart’, says Goyal after 19 MPs suspended from Rajya Sabha
As many as 19 opposition MPs were suspended from Rajya Sabha on Tuesday for the remaining part of this week for allegedly disrupting the proceedings. The move came a day after four Congress MPs were suspended from Lok Sabha for the entire monsoon session for holding protests with placards inside the House.
Rajya Sabha barely functioned on Tuesday as the opposition members staged protests over the issue of price rise and GST hike on essential items, accusing the government of shying away from holding discussion.
Union minister Piyush Goyal, who is also the leader of the Upper House, said the chairperson suspended the MPs with a “heavy heart” as they ignored his repeated appeals to let the House function and continued to protest. Goyal said the government is ready to hold discussion on the issues once Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman, who is unwell, returns to the house.
India has tackled inflation and price rise better than many countries, and the government is keen to inform Parliament about the important steps it has taken to handle price rise, Goyal said.
The battle lines had been drawn between the opposition and the government since the beginning of the session owing to the presidential election, upcoming vice presidential election, and the questioning of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party leader Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate. The opposition has been trying to corner the government on the issues of inflation and recent GST hike on pre-packaged essential items.
The suspended Rajya Sabha MPs included Sushmita Dev, Mausam Noor, Shanta Chhetri, Dola Sen, Santanu Sen, Abir Ranjan Biswas and Nadiumal Haque of the Trinamool Congress. DMK’s M.Mohamed Abdulla, Kanimozhi, NVN Somu, M.Shanmugam, S.Kalyanasundaram, R.Girirajan and N.R.Elango were also suspended. B.Lingaiah Yadav, Ravichandra Vaddiraju and Damodar Rao Divakonda (TRS), V.Sivadasan and A.A.Rahim (CPI-M) and Sandosh Kumar (CPI) were the other MPs who were suspended.
On Monday, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla had suspended four Congress MPs for displaying placards inside the house despite repeated warnings. The suspended Congress MPs were Manickam Tagore, Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and T.N. Prathapan.
Meanwhile, both the houses witnessed several adjournments during the day. The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day as the opposition members protested against the suspension of 19 MPs.
Earlier in the day, the opposition MPs wrote to new President Droupadi Murmu, seeking her intervention in the “misuse” of investigating agencies against their leaders.
The Lok Sabha took up discussion on the Family Courts (Amendment) Bill which was introduced on July 18, 2022. The Bill seeks to amends the Family Courts Act, 1984 to allow the states to set up family courts. Also, the Centre can notify dates for the courts coming into force.
With PTI inputs
