Om Birla to stay away from LS till removal notice decided
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday decided that he will not attend the proceedings of House till disposal of his removal notice submitted by Opposition MPs. Birla directed Lok Sabha Secretary General to examine the notice served by the Opposition.
After Opposition parties submitted its notice on Birla’s removal, Lok Sabha took up a discussion on the Union Budget in the post lunch session. The discussion had been held up for days over Opposition protests. Since February 2, the Lok Sabha has witnessed unruly scenes and repeated disruptions that led to the suspension of seven Congress members and one CPI(M) member for the rest of the Budget session.
About 120 Opposition MPs submitted the notice for moving the resolution to remove Birla from office for not allowing Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders to speak in the House on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, as well as for suspending eight MPs. The notice further alleged that he had acted in a “blatantly partisan” manner in conducting the business of the House and abused the constitutional office by making “blatantly false” allegations against Congress MPs. Birla however has a
constitutional right to defend himself in the House if the resolution is discussed in the Lok Sabha.Congress MP and chief whip K Suresh submitted the notice to the Lok Sabha secretariat on behalf of several opposition parties, including his party, Samajwadi Party, NCP (SP), Shiv Sena (UBT) and DMK. The TMC MPs, however, did not sign the notice and were not a party to it.
BJP slammed the opposition for submitting the notice saying the time has come for India to “impeach” Rahul Gandhi and the Congress from politics. “Those who have been impeached of their consciousness are the ones who want to impeach all the constitutional posts of India,” BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters when asked about the opposition’s notice.
BJP also alleged that the Congress and its allies have been attacking constitutional institutions and posts at the behest of US-based billionaire George Soros since the BJP-NDA returned to power for a third consecutive term under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
