Speaker suspends 12 MPs, LS quiet
Setting the stage for the introduction of the Food Security Bill in the Lok Sabha — which the government has been unable to do since early this week with anti-Telangana MPs stalling proceedings — Speaker Meira Kumar on Friday announced the suspension of 12 members (eight from the Congress, four from the TDP) for at least five sittings.
They were demanding a rollback of the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh. In the Rajya Sabha too, the Telugu Desam demanded the formation of a joint parliamentary committee to look into the Telangana issue.
The decision came a day after the government moved a motion in the Lok Sabha seeking the suspension of 10 MPs from Andhra Pradesh for disrupting the House ever since the Monsoon Session began on August 5.
The Speaker told the MPs who were named: “You may forthwith withdraw from the precincts of the House.” The four suspended TDP MPs, however, chose to defy the Speaker’s order and remained squatting inside the House.
On Friday, though, quiet prevailed in the Lok Sabha in contrast to the uproar that erupted Thursday among Opposition ranks following the government’s move to suspend MPs.
The four TDP MPs had been consistently trooping into the Well of the House to protest against the decision on Telangana. The remaining eight MPs on whom the Speaker cracked the whip are from the Congress.
The Speaker named the 12 MPs soon after the House reconvened at 12.30 pm, after already being adjourned twice in the morning. All were named for causing “grave disorder” under Rule 374(A) of the Lok Sabha’s rules of procedure.
Under this rule. a member once named by the Speaker stands “automatically suspended from the service of the House for five consecutive sittings or for the remainder of the session, whichever is less”. This rule, incidentally, was used on Friday for the first time since it was introduced.
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