While Rajya Sabha remained paralysed, proceedings of Lok Sabha too were hit
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. (Photo: PTI)
New Delhi: A day after the suspension of 25 Congress MPs, the parliamentary logjam only deepened on Tuesday, with the Opposition parties joining ranks against the government. While the Rajya Sabha remained paralysed, the Congress, Trinamul, JD(U), AAP and NCP, among others, boycotted the proceedings of the Lok Sabha.
The Left, RJD and Samajwadi Party staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha after protesting against the suspension of the MPs. The Congress, which had seemed isolated in Parliament last week, found this had become a rallying point for Opposition unity against the government.
The Opposition held a joint protest within the Parliament House complex, led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. They also staged a sit-in near the iconic statute of Mahatma Gandhi. While the AIADMK and Biju Janata Dal did not join the other Opposition parties, they too sought to raise the issue of suspensions and pleaded for a reduction in the quantum of punishment.
BJD MP Tathagata Satpathy, raising the issue of floods in Orissa, used the opportunity to declare that the Opposition was vital in a parliamentary democracy and that no legislative business should be taken up in its absence. He also appealed to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to reduce the quantum of punishment for supsended 25 Congress MPs.
Mother has to be strict: Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan
A day after she suspended 25 Congress MPs for five days, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Tuesday described herself as a caring mother who has to be strict sometimes to control her children.
Apne mujhe saumya bola. Lekin kuch log abhi mujhe saumya nahi bhi bol sakte hain. Main saumya hun. (You have described me as gentle, but some may not call me so now. But I am).
“A mother sometimes has to be strict to control her children,” she said at a book release function here, without referring to the Monday’s episode in Lok Sabha. 25 of Congress party’s 44 members in the House were suspended for causing disruptions which led to nine opposition parties deciding to boycott the proceedings to express solidarity with them.
( Source : deccan chronicle/pti )
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