Rajya Sabha adjourned till noon amid continued ruckus by Opposition

The Rajya Sabha on Monday adjourned till noon following the ruckus created by Opposition parties over the suspension of 12 MPs.

The Rajya Sabha on Monday was adjourned till noon following the ruckus created by Opposition parties over the suspension of 12 MPs. Deputy Leader Anand Sharma and Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and DMK leader Tiruchi Siva raised the issue requesting Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu to revoke the suspension of the 12 MPs, mentioning "the Opposition want the House run uninterrupted".

The ruckus started as the Chairman rejected their plea, saying "you are defending undefendable". Soon after the House assembled for the day and the Chairman allowed Zero Hour after reading condolence message in memory of those who lost their lives on December 13, 2001, Parliament attack and laying of papers on the table, Anand Sharma requested the Chair to sort out the issue as "both government and Opposition are present here" and revoke the suspension of 12 MPs.

Tiruchi Siva said, "We want the House to run smoothly. The government had moved the resolution to suspend the 22 MPs and it should now consider over the issue and revoke the suspension." Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said: "We are repeatedly requesting through you because you are our custodian...They are repeatedly refusing our request to revoke the suspension of the 12 suspended MPs."

"The government is adamant and it's provoking us to disrupt the proceedings of the House. This is why we'll walk out from the House," Kharge added. The Chairman rejected their pleas and said that the House cannot be run like this.

"You cannot force me...Let the House function as there are many important issues in Zero Hour," Naidu said. Amid the din, the Chairman tried to run the House but the ruckus continued and he adjourned the proceedings till noon.

In a move that angered the Opposition and set the stage for acrimonious exchanges, a dozen members of Opposition parties in Rajya Sabha were suspended from the winter session on the very first day on Monday following a motion brought in by the government. The members were suspended for alleged unruly conduct towards the end of the monsoon session in August when marshals were called after Opposition members stormed the Well of the House during the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021.

The suspended members comprise six from the Congress, two each from Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, and one each from CPI and CPM: Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, Ripun Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of Congress; Dola Sen, Shanta Chhetri of Trinamool Congress; Priyanka Chaturvedi, Anil Desai of Shiv Sena; Elamaram Kareem of CPM; and, Binoy Viswam of CPI. (ANI)