Opposition's one-third MPs in Lok Sabha, half in Rajya Sabha stand suspended

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, December 18

With action against 92 MPs (78 suspended on Monday and 14 last week) in the winter session of Parliament that began on December 4 and will end on December 22, nearly one-third of the Opposition strength in the Lok Sabha and half in the Rajya Sabha stand rested from the House business.

14 referred to privileges committee

11 Rajya Sabha MPs whose case has been referred to the privileges committee are Jebi Mather Hisham, L Hanumanthaiah, Neeraj Dangi, Rajmani Patel, Kumar Ketkar, GC Chandrashekhar, Binoy Viswam, Santhosh Kumar P, Mohamed Abdulla, John Brittas & AA Rahim. The privileges committee of the LS will rule on conduct of 3 LS MPs K Jayakumar, Vijay Vasanth & Abdul Khaleque (all Cong)

Of 78 MPs suspended on Monday, 33 belong to the Lok Sabha and 45 to the Rajya Sabha. Last week, 13 Lok Sabha members and one from Rajya Sabha were suspended. With 46 of the nearly 133 anti-BJP MPs in the Lower House facing action, nearly a third of the Opposition members will sit out for the winter session and some for perhaps longer.

In the Rajya Sabha, INDI alliance strength is around 95 MPs; of which, 46 (taken along with Derek O’Brien suspended last week) stand suspended. This is half the strength from the house proceedings.

Monday actions may seem dramatic, but the Lok Sabha records show that in the eighth Lok Sabha, 63 Opposition MPs, including late Somnath Chatterjee and Indrajit Gupta, were suspended when late Rajiv Gandhi was PM and Balram Jakhar Speaker. However, as many as 92 suspensions from both Houses in a single session of Parliament could well be a first.

Today, among those suspended were top floor leaders including Congress leader in LS Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Deputy Leader of Opposition in RS Pramod Tewari; Congress chief whip in RS Jairam Ramesh and DMK leader TR Baalu.

Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha) Mallikarjun Kharge will lead the Opposition charge in the Rajya Sabha now and UPA chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will be expected to do the same in the Lok Sabha.