The government on Thursday decided to withdraw the suspension of DMK MP S.R. Parthiban from the Lok Sabha as he was not present in the House and his name was included with those to be suspended by mistake.
Now, the total number of MPs suspended for the remainder of the winter session or Parliament stands at 14 — 13 from the Lok Sabha and one from the Rajya Sabha.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said Mr. Parthiban’s name has been withdrawn from the list of the Lok Sabha members suspended earlier in the day as there was a mistake on the part of the staff in identifying the member. “I have requested the Speaker to drop the name of the member as it was a case of mistaken identity,” Mr. Joshi said.
The Speaker has agreed to the suggestion.
A circular issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat later listed the 13 MPs who have been suspended. Mr. Parthiban’s name was not in the list.
“Hibi Eden, T N Prathapan, Ramya Haridas, Dean Kuriakose, S Jothimani, V K Sreekandan, Benny Behanan, Mohd Jawed, P R Natarajan, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, K Subbarayan, S Venkatesan and Manickam Tagore B, MPs have been suspended from the service of the House...,” the circular read.
Mr. Joshi said when the business of the House shifted to the new Parliament building, the Speaker had proposed at a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee that the members have to work with a fresh resolve of not showing placards in the House. “This proposal was unanimously agreed to. Nobody had opposed it,” he added.
The 13 MPs violated the decision taken at the BAC meeting and brought placards to the House and hence, were suspended, the Minister added.
Earlier, the Lok Sabha MPs were suspended after the House adopted two separate motions brought by the government. Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien was suspended from the Rajya Sabha.
The Opposition MPs were suspended for “gross misconduct” as they demanded a discussion on the security breach in the Lok Sabha on December 13.
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Before their suspension, the MPs moved into the Well of the House raising slogans to demand a statement from the government on the security breach.
Members of Parliament in both Houses raised slogans demanding that Home Minister Amit Shah give a statement on the December 13 security breach from the public gallery.
Earlier in the day, Mr. O’Brien was suspended for his “unruly behaviour” and “misconduct”. Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar named Mr. O’Brien and warned him, asking the MP to leave the House.
Later, Leader of the House Piyush Goyal moved a motion in this regard. The motion was adopted with a voice vote and the chairman announced that Mr. O’Brien stands suspended from the House for the remainder of the session.
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In the Lok Sabha, Mr. Joshi first moved the motion to suspend members T.N. Prathapan, Dean Kuriakose, S. Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and Hibi Eden for the remainder of the session.
Later, Benny Behanan, V.K. Sreekandan, Mohammad Jawed, P.R. Natarajan, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, K Subbarayan, S.R. Parthiban, S. Venkatesan, and Manickam Tagore were suspended through another resolution.
“I move the following that this House having taken misconduct of T.N. Prathapan, Hibi Eden, Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and Dean Kuriakose in utter disregard to the House and the authority of this Chair and having been named by the chair … to be suspended from the service of the House for reminder session,” the resolution read.
An MP claimed later that Mr. Prathiban was named among the suspended MPs even though he is not present in Delhi and is in Chennai.
The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday. Some of the suspended members continued to protest in the House even after the adjournment. A few of them came out after some time.
(With inputs from PTI)
