Sonia Gandhi at the protest. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleges that women parliamentarians of his party were "manhandled" in the Lok Sabha when they were protesting in the Well of the House over the Maharashtra government formation. Congress members jostled with the marshals in the Lok Sabha when they stormed the Well of the House carrying placards, leading to the adjournment of Parliament proceedings.
Perturbed with the ruckus created in the Lok Sabha on Monday, Speaker Om Birla suspended two Congress MPs for a day after they jostled with Marshals in the House, leading to adjournment of proceedings.
The Speaker also warned that if any lawmaker indulged in such action, he or she would be suspended for the whole session in the future.
Congress MPs — Hibi Eden and T.N. Prathapan — were suspended by the Speaker for defying the order of the chair and jostling with the marshals.
Eden and Prathapan — who were holding a banner with the slogan ‘Stop murder of democracy’ — jostled with the marshals in the Lok Sabha after the Speaker asked the latter to take the leaders out of the House as they were disrupting the proceedings during Question Hour.
The House witnessed ruckus after Congress members trooped near the Speaker’s podium, raising slogans against the Centre over government formation in Maharashtra, leading to adjournment of the House three times. The Speaker has adjourned the House till 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Speaker’s suspension order came following the whole incident.
When Congress members led by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury met the Speaker, they were told that the House must be run with dignity.
“The House runs with dignity. Today’s incident has lowered the dignity of the House. If such incidents are repeated in future, members will be suspended for the whole session,” sources in the SPeaker’s office said. (IANS)