Forty-nine members from opposition parties were suspended from the Lok Sabha on December 19 for disrupting proceedings, a day after 78 MPs, 45 of them from the Rajya Sabha, faced a similar action.
Congress' Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Karti Chidambaram, National Conference's Farooq Abdullah and Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav were among the MPs suspended on December 19 for the rest of the winter session.
The government and the opposition members have been clashing over the December 13 security breach when two men jumped from the visitor’s gallery into the Lok Sabha chamber as proceedings were on and released smoke from canisters.
Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party, S Jagathrakshakan and DNV Senthil Kumar of the DMK, Giridhari Yadav of the Janata Dal (United), Danish Ali and Sushil Kumar Rinku of the Aam Aadmi Party were also suspended.
Ali was recently suspended by the Samajwadi Party for anti-party activities.
The motion for their suspension was moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, who accused the protesting members of being "frustrated" over the recent assembly election results. The BJP won three of the five elections.
Also Read: Congress flays suspension of opposition MPs from Parliament
Joshi said that MP of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), a bloc of 28 opposition parties, were upset with the outcome of the assembly elections.
The minister said they had requested a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah on Parliament security breach. Despite agreeing not to display placards, these MPs were taking such actions due to their dissatisfaction with the election outcome, the minister said.
Also Read: PIL in SC seeks court-monitored probe into Parliament security breach
The Congress described the suspension as a "complete purge" being executed. The mass suspensions were an attempt to facilitate the passage of “draconian bills” without meaningful debate, it said.
Tharoor acknowledged entering the well of the House holding a placard in solidarity with party colleagues who were suspended for demanding accountability regarding the recent security breach.
On December 18, in an unprecedented move, 78 opposition MPs —45 from Rajya Sabha and 33 from Lok Sabha — were suspended from Parliament.
The disciplinary action was taken due to their violation of House rules by displaying placards, entering the well, and chanting slogans.
The collective suspension, encompassing both Houses, marked the highest number of suspensions on a single day in the current session.
(With PTI inputs)
