New Delhi: The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day on Thursday without taking up the Rafale debate or transacting any other business after a huge furore over the suspension of 21 MPs belonging to the Telugu Desam Party and the AIADMK by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan due to unruly behaviour. Thirteen TDP members, seven AIADMK members and an unattached member were suspended a day after Ms Mahajan had suspended 24 AIADMK MPs for disrupting the proceedings on Wednesday during a debate on the Rafale seal. The AIADMK has 37 members and the TDP has 15 members in the House.
As soon as the House met on Thursday, AIADMK and TDP members trooped into the Well raising slogans and carrying banners making their pet demands of a dam on the river Cauvery and special status for Andhra Pradesh respectively.
As the MPs started throwing papers in the direction of the Chair, the Speaker warned that she would be forced to name the unruly members and take action against them. “I warn you, I will take your names. You have come to the Well and are persistently creating trouble,” she said.
When the members refused to budge despite this, the Speaker suspended the MPs under Rule 374(A) of the Lok Sabha proceedings for the next four sittings of the House. This effectively means they have been suspended for the rest of the session as Parliament has only three more working days left.
Among those suspended were former civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju (TDP), Thota Narasimham (TDP) and Renuka Butta (unattached), who had won on a YSR Congress ticket.
When the House, which was initially adjourned till 2 pm, met, the suspended AIADMK and TDP members trooped into the Well and continued protesting, shouting slogans. At this time, two more TDP members — P. Ravindra Babu and Kesineni Srinivas — were also suspended from the Lok Sabha for unruly behaviour. The Speaker then adjourned the House for the day.
Members from the Congress had wanted to raise the Sabarimala issue and the House was also scheduled to resume a discussion on the Rafale deal under Rule 193.
