Amid high drama, noise and repeated disruptions over a move by the Government to suspend Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) members whose protests against the creation of Telangana have crippled the House for days during the ongoing Monsoon session, the Lok Sabha on Thursday was adjourned for the day as an aggressive and united opposition derailed the move.
Even as the protesting members trooped into the Well raising slogans, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath moved a motion to suspend 10 members who have been protesting against the government announcement of carving out of a separate state of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.
``It is very unfortunate that from the very first day the house has not been able to run. I propose that the MPs be suspended till the end of this session,’’ said Mr. Nath while reading out their names.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opposed the move with the Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj saying that BJP favoured creation of Telangana but it was ``sad the way the Congress announced its decision’’ for forming the new State.
Amid uproar as the Speaker Meira Kumar put the motion to voice vote, the entire opposition, including the BJP, Akali Dal, Shiv Sena, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Left parties, the Biju Janata Dal and even the Samajwadi Party, opposed it loudly.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister’s motion was to suspend six Congress and four TDP members for ``disturbing the proceedings regularly’’ since the beginning of the Monsoon session from August 5. Mr. Nath said the 10 members who ``have behaved in a manner unbecoming of MPs by continuously disturbing the proceedings of the House be suspended from services of the House for the remainder of the Session.’’
As soon as Mr. Nath stood up to bring the motion, almost all members of the entire opposition were on their feet, loudly protesting the move, with the BJP taking the lead.
The TDP members named in Thursday’s motion for suspension
were K Nimmala, K N Rao, M Venugopala Reddy and N Sivaprasad, while the six Congress members are A Sai Prathap, A Venkatarami Reddy, L Rajagopal, M Sreenivasulu Reddy, V Aruna Kumar and G V Harsha Kumar.
Even as the chaos reigned supreme and agitated members of TDP and Congress who were to be suspended tried pulling the microphones on the Speaker’s podium, the Chair adjourned the house till 12.45 p.m. When the House reassembled, similar scenes were repeated and commotion continued, leading to further adjournment till Friday without the motion being adopted.
