MP Suspension Row: Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day following opposition protest

Commotion prevailed in Rajya Sabha for a second consecutive day over the suspension of 12 opposition party MPs. As both the ruling party and opposition stick to their demands, the House was adjourned for the day. While Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu sought apology from 'unruly MPs', opposition repeated their demand to revoke the suspension

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day after the opposition parties mounted pressure on the government to revoke its suspension of 12 MPs. The House has witnessed two adjournments over the issue.

Nearly a dozen Rajya Sabha MPs were suspended on Tuesday for alleged unruly conduct earlier in August during the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021. Condemning the suspension of 12 MPs from Congress, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India- Marxist, opposition leaders staged a walkout from the House on Day one of the ongoing winter session, Tuesday.

When the House resumed today, leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge again raised the issue of suspension of 12 MPs which ended in heated arguments between the opposition and ruling party members. Opposition MPs trooped into the well of the House carrying placards and shouting slogans against the suspension.

Reiterating the government stand, Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu said that there was no question of revoking their suspension. He said, "The suspended MPs have expressed no remorse. They have really insulted the parliamentary system."

He also said that the government was also demanding an apology from the suspended MPs. Naidu ordered that nothing that the opposition MPs say would go on record but said their conduct in the Well of the House should be shown to the people of the country. This ended in protests and the chairman adjourned the House till 12 noon. The session resumed again post lunch and was adjourned till 3pm. However, the House did not convene and the the session was adjourned for the day.

Earlier in the day, the opposition party MPs also staged a protest at the Gandhi statue inside the Parliament premises.