New Delhi: Ninety percent of the 146 Oppositionlawmakers suspended during the tumultuous winter session of Parliament will be eligible to attend the last session, the budget one, before the Lok Sabha polls, but the remaining 10%, or 14 members of Parliament will continue to remain suspended as they face breach of privilege investigations.
The winter session of Parliament saw both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha being prorogued on December 29; that meant the suspension of 132 MPs came to an end as the punitive action against them was valid only for the session.
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The acrimonious session that saw a glaring lapse in the security of the heavily fortified building with two intruders jumping into the Lok Sabha with smoke canisters, also set a record in terms of the number (146) of Opposition lawmakers being suspended from the two Houses.
The Opposition has claimed the suspensions were prompted by their continuing demand for answers from the government on the security lapse — and specifically a statement from the Union home minister — but the government has denied the charge and maintained that the suspensions were for disorderly conduct.
Parliament officials pointed out that 14 MPs—11 from the Rajya Sabha and three from the Lok Sabha—will continue to face suspension and that their participation in the coming budget session remains uncertain.
The truncated budget session will start from January 31 with the speech of President Droupadi Murmu. The vote on accounts will be presented on February 1 followed by a discussion on the two subjects. With the Lok Sabha poll likely to happen in April-May this year, a new government will present a full budget in June.
The 14 suspended MPs are K Jayakumar and Abdul Khaleque of the Congress and JDU’s Vijay Kumar from the Lok Sabha, and Congress’s Jebi Mather, L Hanumanthaiah, Neeraj Dangi, Rajmani Patel, Kumar Ketkar, and GC Chandrasekhar, CPI’s Binoy Viswam and Sandosh Kumar, DMK’s Mohamad Abdulla and CPIM’s John Brittas and AA Rahim, from the Rajya Sabha.
Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien said, “Two impeccably well-behaved Members of Parliament continue to grace the Lok Sabha– Ramesh Bidhuri and Brij Bhushan Singh (both BJP). Maybe the Modi government wants all of us in Opposition to behave like them to avoid suspension from Parliament.”
While Bidhuri faces privilege proceedings for a communal rant targetting a fellow member, Singh, the former head of the country’s top wrestling body was accused by some women wrestlers of harassment.
According to a party leader familiar with the matter, the 11 suspended MPs from the Rajya Sabha jointly met Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to request him to review their suspension. “They also pointed out that the chair should have taken into consideration both the Rules for Suspension and the circumstances before suspending the MPs. As per Rule 256, the Chairman can suspend a member from the service of the Council for a period not exceeding the remainder of the session,” the leader said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
This person added that the lawmakers informed Dhankhar that their suspension is not legally tenable as there were others who also raised slogans and showed placards, but whose behaviour was not referred to the privilege committee.
“The fact that only 11 MPs were singled out can be legally challenged as it is gross injustice and the MPs are considering legal recourse,” the leader said, adding that floor leaders of the parties are of the view that the opposition cannot be expected to cooperate with the government if the suspensions are not reviewed.
Meanwhile, the budget session is expected to continue to see disruptions with opposition parties that are part of the INDIA bloc deciding to jointly protest the continuing suspension of the 14 lawmakers.
