19 opposition MPs suspended from Rajya Sabha for entire week

New Delhi, July 26

Nineteen opposition MPs, including seven from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and six from the DMK, were suspended on Tuesday from attending the Rajya Sabha for the entire week.

They had disrupted the House proceedings.

The opposition MPs, who have been stalling the proceedings since the start of the monsoon session on July 18 over price rise and the levy of the GST on daily essentials, were suspended for not heeding to Deputy Chairman Harivansh Singh’s repeated pleas to leave the Well of the House and go back to their seats.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan moved a motion to suspend 10 MPs, but when it was adopted by a voice vote, Singh read out the names of 19 members.

While seven of the suspended MPs belonged to the TMC, six were from the DMK, three from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, two from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and one from the Communist Party of India (CPI).

Sushmita Dev, Mausam Noor, Shanta Chhetri, Dola Sen, Santanu Sen, Abir Ranjan Biswas and Nadiumal Haque of the TMC were suspended.

DMK’s M Mohamed Abdulla, Kanimozhi NVN Somu, M Shanmugam, S Kalyanasundaram, R Girirajan and NR Elango were also suspended.

B Lingaiah Yadav, Ravichandra Vaddiraju and Damodar Rao Divakonda (TRS), V Sivadasan and AA Rahim (CPI-M) and Sandosh Kumar (CPI) were the other MPs who were suspended.

Harivansh Singh said the MPs were suspended for showing “utter disregard” to the House and the authority of the Chair.

The Chair asked the suspended members to leave the House, but they kept protesting in the Well, leading to two adjournments.

The proceedings were first adjourned for 15 minutes and then for an hour after the suspended members refused to leave the House when it met again.