25 of 44 Congress MPs suspended from Lok Sabha, Sonia Gandhi calls it a Black Day
The suspended leaders, all from the Congress, had been protesting against the government over the Lalit Modi and Vyapam scams.
In an unprecedented move, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Monday suspended 25 Members of Parliament for five consecutive sittings for disrupting the proceeding, forcing an agitated Congress president Sonia Gandhi to call it a Black Day in Indian democracy.
The suspended leaders, all from the Congress, had been protesting against the government over the Lalit Modi and Vyapam scams. Among the suspended MPs are Sushmita Dev and Gaurav Gogoi, who have been charged for displaying placards in Lok Sabha.
The MPs, however, refused to vacate and protested in the Well of the House, forcing its adjournment for the day. The Congress has 44 members in the Lok Sabha. "It's a Black Day for Indian democracy," Sonia said. A number of opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have decided to boycott Lok Sabha in a show of solidarity with Congress.
The move is set to further intensify the logjam in Parliament, which has not seen any business for the last 10 days. The Centre is even mulling a No Work, No Pay Bill to prevent the disruption of the House.
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As soon as the House met in the morning, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan dismissed the adjournment motions moved by a host of opposition members, including Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and KC Venugopal. Kharge protested against this, saying if the speaker agreed that the issues raised were important then why did not she allow for them to be taken up.
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Following this as the Speaker proceeded to take up the question hour, opposition members trooped near the speaker's podium and started shouting slogans like "we want justice". As the question hour proceeded, the speaker asked members, including Congress' Gaurav Gogoi and Sushmita Deb, not to raise placards in front of the ministers' faces.
Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma, who was answering a question, requested the Speaker to ensure that he was able to see the faces of the members who were asking him questions. However, despite this, the opposition continued with its loud protests.
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Here is the list of Congress MPs suspended:
BN Chandrappa
Santokh Singh Chaudhary
Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury
Sushmita Dev
R Dhruvanarayana
Ninong Ering
Gaurav Gogoi
Sukender Reddy Gutha
Deepender Singh Hooda
Suresh Kodikunnil
SP Muddahanumegowda
Abhijit Mukherjee
Ramachandra Mullappally
KH Muniyappa
BV Nayak
Vincent H Pala
MK Raghvan
Ranjeet Ranjan
CL Ruala
Tamradhwaj Sahu
Rajeev Shankarrao Satav
Ravneet Singh
Doddaalahalli Kempegowda Suresh
KC Venugopal
Thokchom Meinya