14 Opposition MPs Suspended From Parliament For Disrupting House Proceedings

New Delhi: 

Fourteen Opposition MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha and one from the Rajya Sabha today for disrupting House proceedings, a day after a major security breach in parliament last afternoon. The number of suspended MPs fell by one by evening as the government decided to withdraw the suspension of DMK MP SR Parthiban since he was not present in the House and said his name was included by mistake.

Mr Parthiban was named as one of the suspended MPs. Soon, sources in the DMK claimed that the MP was not present in the House and that he was in Tamil Nadu.

By evening, the Centre clarified and said Mr Parthiban’s name has been dropped as it was a “case of mistaken identity”.

Of the suspended MPs, nine are from the Congress, two 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.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for “unruly behaviour” for the rest of this session. However, he refused to leave the House despite being suspended and the matter has been sent to the House’s Privileges Committee after a motion by the BJP’s Piyush Goyal.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP KC Venugopal called the suspension a “horrible, undemocratic move”.