Pandemonium broke out in the lok Sabha on Thursday after the entire Opposition objected to a Government’s motion to suspend 10 MPs from Andhra Pradesh for disrupting the House from day one of the Monsoon Session against the proposed bifurcation of the State.
The House could not transact any business in the first hour due to uproar over the missing Coalgate files. When it reassembled at 12 noon, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath introduced the motion to suspend six Congress MPs and four TDP MPs.
The entire Opposition vociferously protested the motion even as agitating TDP member N Sivaprasad took out a whip and his party colleague M Venugopala Reddy tried to grab the microphones installed at the Speaker’s podium. This led to adjournment till 12.45 pm, and derailed the Government’s move to start the debate on the Food Bill and introduce the land Acquisition Bill.
Moving the motion, Nath said, “Unfortunately, the House has not been able to function since the beginning of this session in light of the protests by these members.” Speaker Meira Kumar’s attempts to bring truce by calling party leaders to her chamber did not work. The House again witnessed heated exchanges between Opposition leaders and Treasury Benches. The Government backtracked after leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj demanded voting for the motion for suspension of MPs. Government managers were seen accusing the BJP of not adhering to the commitment given in the leaders’ meeting in the Speaker’s chamber.
According to Government’s floor managers, the BJP leaders agreed in the meeting that they would stage a walkout, when the motion was placed. But the BJP’s demand for putting the motion for voting placed the Government in a difficult position because most of the Opposition MPs were bound to vote against the motion. When order could not be restored, the Speaker adjourned the House for the day.
Opposing the motion, Swaraj said, “I want to say categorically that we are in favour of Telangana. We have supported it fully. I have raised this issue earlier in the House on three occasions.” The TDP members named in the motion are K Nimmala, KN 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 GV Harsha Kumar.