Monsoon session: Suspended MPs refuse to apologise, continue protest

Opposition MPs, who were suspended from the Rajya Sabha for disrupting proceedings, continued their protest near the Gandhi statue inside the Parliament complex on Thursday and asserted that there was no question of them apologising for their behaviour.

"There is no question of apologising. We want to have discussions on price rise in Parliament but we were suspended. Our 50-hour-long protest will continue outside," said TMC MP Mausam Noor.

Her comment came after Union Minister Pralhad Joshi's statement that suspension can be revoked if Opposition MPs apologise.

Taking to a micro-blogging site, Joshi said," We are always ready for a positive discussion in the parliament, but the Congress party keeps disturbing the house. We are even ready to call back the suspended members, but the opposition should ensure that they do not disturb the house again."

Another TMC MP Shanta Chhetri also hit out at the government saying they were only raising issues of the common people.

"We are not going to apologise as we haven't done anything wrong. We've raised the issues of common people. The country is suffering from price rise and raising the issue is not wrong," said TMC MP Shanta Chhetri.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmakers on Wednesday staged a sit-in protest at the Gandhi statue outside Parliament on Wednesday over their suspension from Rajya Sabha.

MPs who were suspended on Tuesday over 'unruly behaviour and disrupting proceedings' include Sushmita Dev, Santanu Sen, Dola Sen, Mausam Noor, Shanta Chhetri, Abhi Ranjan Biswar and Mohd Nadidul Haque.

On July 27, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the remainder of this week for "throwing paper on the Chair" during the proceedings. Singh was the 20th MP from the Upper House who was suspended for disrupting proceedings in this session. This is the highest number of single-batch suspensions in the Upper House.

Meanwhile, a meeting of Opposition parties was held to discuss the issue of suspension of MPs. However, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) skipped the meeting.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said that the Opposition will submit a request to the Speaker of Lok Sabha and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha to rescind the suspension of the members who raised their voices against the price rise.

Speaking to ANI, Kharge said, "The issues that we have been raising since the last 7 days regarding inflation and imposition of GST on essential commodities, today on the eighth day also we will raise our voice regarding the same. Common people are worried about this. We are also raising our voices continuously, but the government is not ready for discussion. I personally met the chairman and said that you allow the discussion and tell the date and time, we will be ready for discussion, but the government is not ready to accept it. We will submit a request to the Speaker and the Chairman to rescind the suspension of the members who raised their voices against the price rise."

He further said that the suspension of MPs which has been done at the behest of the government and should be withdrawn with immediate effect.

On July 25, four Congress MPs including Manickam Tagore, Ramya Haridas, Jothimani and TN Prathapan were suspended from the Lok Sabha for the entire Monsoon session for their 'unruly behaviour and disrupting proceedings.'

The Monsoon Session of Parliament commenced on July 18 and will continue till August 12. There will be 18 sittings during the Session.

(ANI)

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