Staff Reporter / New Delhi
Following din over security breach that happened in Lok Sabha yesterday, Speaker Om Birla today suspended Fourteen opposition MPs from different parties from the House for the remaining period of Winter Session says they were disrupting House proceedings.
Amid demands from the opposition for a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the security breach in Lok Sabha, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved two resolutions on separate occasions for the suspension of the MPs.
Before their suspension, the MPs moved into the Well of the House raising slogans with demand of a statement from the government on the Wednesday security breach.
The House witnessed the first adjournment during the question hour when it was adjourned till 2 pm amid opposition’s uproar.
At 2 pm, Joshi read a statement on behalf of the government and said the internal security in Parliament comes under the purview of the Speaker.
He then moved a resolution amid the din to suspend five MPs.
“I move the following that this House having taken misconduct of T N Prathapan, Hibi Eden, Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and Dean Kuriakose in utter disregard to the House and the authority of this Chair and having been named by the chair … to be suspended from the service of the House for reminder session,” the resolution read.
The House was then adjourned till 3 pm.
As soon as the House met at 3 pm, Joshi moved a second resolution to suspend VK Sreekandan (Cong), Benny Behanan (Cong), Mohammad Jawed (Cong), PR Natarajan (CPI-M), Kanimozhi (DMK), K Subbarayan (CPI), SR Parthiban (DMK), S Venkatesan (CPI-M), and Manickam Tagore (Cong).
An MP claimed later that Prathiban was named among the suspended MPs even as he is not present in Delhi and is in Chennai.
The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday. Some of the suspended members continued to protest in the House even after the adjournment. A few of them came out after some time.
Opposition members in the Lok Sabha on Thursday held vociferous protests demanding a statement from the government on the Parliament security breach even as Speaker Om Birla asserted that security of the Parliament complex is the responsibility of the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
A similar scene was witnessed in the Rajya Sabha. When the Upper House reassembled after fifth adjournment at 4 PM, members from Congress, TMC, DMK, Left, RJD, Shiv Sena (UBT), and others continued with their protest over the security breach issue. Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar repeatedly asked suspended TMC MP Derek O’Brien to withdraw from the House but he didn’t pay heed. Following this, Leader of the House, Piyush Goyal moved a motion to send the matter related to the gross misconduct of Mr O’Brien to the Privilege committee.
The committee has been asked to submit its report within three months. The Chairman expressed displeasure over continuously defying Chair’s direction by the TMC MP and adjourned the House for the day. Earlier, the House witnessed several adjournments. Mr O’Brien was suspended from the House at 2 PM for remainder of the session for his unruly behaviour. The Chairman called the floor leaders of the different political parties for a meeting in his chamber. Opposition members from Congress, TMC, DMK, and others were in the well, raising slogans over the security breach issue. They demanded a discussion and Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement on the issue. The Chairman informed the House that a high-level probe has been ordered into the incident and the security matter is being duly addressed.