New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs staged a protest near the Gandhi statue on the Parliament premises on Friday against ‘unruly behaviour’ of the Opposition over suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha members.
This came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government and the Opposition are at loggerheads on the issue.
Leader of the Opposition, Mallikarjun Kharge, earlier on Wednesday categorically stated no apology will be made over the lawmakers’ conduct.
“There will be no apology. We are requesting them to forget what happened and work on the welfare of the people and the country,” ANI quoted Kharge as saying.
The Congress leader’s outburst came a day after he wrote to Rajya Sabha chairman Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu requesting him to reconsider the matter of suspension of 12 MPs “in the larger interest of parliamentary democracy” and revoke the suspensions.
Kharge termed the suspension of the 12 Opposition MPs as “against the Constitution” and said “it is our duty to fight for the cause under the rule of law”.
The 12 MPs, including six from the Congress, two each from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Shiv Sena, and one each from the CPI and CPM, were suspended for the rest of the winter session on the very first day following a motion brought in by the ruling dispensation.
They were suspended for alleged unruly conduct towards the end of the monsoon session in August when marshals were called after the Opposition members stormed the Well of the House during the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021.