14 Opposition MPs suspended from Parl; 13 from LS, one from RS
Of the 14 suspended MPs, nine are from the Congress, two are from the CPM, one from the CPI, and one from the DMK
The Lok Sabha today passed a resolution suspending 15 Opposition MPs for the remainder of the session after being named by the Speaker for disrupting House proceedings. However, in a case of mistaken identiy, a DMK MLA SR Parthiban was included in the suspension when he was not even present in the House.
The Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said Parthiban's name has been withdrawn from the list of the Lok Sabha members suspended earlier in the day as there was a mistake on the part of the staff in identifying the member.
"I have requested the speaker to drop the name of the member as it was a case of mistaken identity," Joshi said.The House has been adjourned till 11 am tomorrow.
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.
Of the 14 suspended MPs, nine are from the Congress, two are from the CPM, one from the CPI, and one from the DMK.
Congress MPs Manickam Tagore, Md Javed, VK Shreekandan, Benny Behanan, DMK MP K Kanimozhi, CPM MPs PR Natarajan and S Venkateshan, and CPI MP K Subbarayan are among the suspended.
The MPs have been suspended for the remainder of the winter session for protesting in the House and demanding discussion on the security breach in Parliament on December 13.
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.
Earlier, Joshi moved a resolution amid the din in the Lok Sabha 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 Kuryakus 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.
B Mahtab was chairing the proceedings.
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 SR Parthiban 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.
In Rajya Sabha
Meanwhile in Rajya Sabha, as Opposition MPs continued protests demanding PM Modi's presence in the House and discussion on the security breach, RS speaker Jagdeep Dhankhar adjourned House till 2.30 pm.
After Rajya Sabha re-convened, suspended MP Derek O' Brien is still present in the House. Calling it a "serious breach", Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar further added that the proceedings of the House were being severely handicapped by his presence and asked Derek to withdraw from the House.
It is most unfortunate that suspended member continues to be present in the House in outrageous defiance of the directions of the Chair, he said and directed Derek to withdraw and the House adjourned again till 3 pm.
Dhankhar asks LoP Mallikarjun Kharge to meet him in his chamber. After the RS re-convened, the same process is repeated. Chairman directs Derek once again to withdraw from the House and adjourns proceedings till 4 pm.
Dhankhar also asks LoP again to confer with him in-chambers at 3.30 pm. The Opposition members had declined to meet Dhankar earlier.
When the House reconvenes, Leader of the House Piyush Goyal moves a privilege motion against Derek O'Brien for violating rules on suspension and repeated directions by the Chair. Derek's alleged misconduct to be referred to the RS Privileges Committee for further examination and recommendation to be submitted within 3 months.
Goyal's motion adopted by RS through voice vote, reference made to Privileges panel and house adjourned till 11 am tomorrow.
