Suspended from RS for raising issue of spurious liquor sale in BJP-ruled Gujarat: AAP MP

AAP MP Sandeep Pathak on Thursday said he and his party member Sushil Gupta were suspended from Rajya Sabha for raising in the House the issue of spurious liquor sale in BJP-ruled Gujarat that led to the death of several people.

The Rajya Sabha adopted a motion to suspend Aam Aadmi Party's Pathak and Sushil Kumar Gupta besides Independent lawmaker Ajit Kumar Bhuyan for the rest of the week for ''unruly behaviour'' in the House.

The Upper House had suspended AAP member Sanjay Singh on Wednesday for ''unruly behaviour''.

''Me and Sushil Gupta have been suspended. And, our only fault was that we were raising the issue pertaining to death of people in Gujarat due to consumption spurious liquor,'' Pathak said after their suspension.

The BJP and its government does not care about the people of Gujarat, he charged.

Forty-two people from Botad and neighbouring Ahmedabad district have died so far after consuming spurious liquor on July 25, while 97 people are still admitted to hospitals in Bhavnagar, Botad and Ahmedabad, Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi had said on Wednesday.

The AAP MP, who had recently been elected to Rajya Sabha from Punjab, alleged that more than 75 people have died so far after consuming spurious liquor in Gujarat and many others are still sick requiring treatment ''but the BJP government in the state has concealed the actual figure''.

''Just to keep the death toll low, bodies of those dying in the hospitals are being declared unclaimed. Many people, who had consumed spurious liquor, are still coming to hospital but they are not being admitted,'' he claimed.

The Gujarat government should ''immediately'' be suspended as it has no moral right to continue, Pathak demanded.

''It is so unfortunate that people have sent so many BJP leaders to Parliament but none of them care. Leave aside the raising of the people's voice here, none of them have any feeling of pain or sorrow for those dying and suffering in Gujarat,'' he said.

The AAP MP, who is in-charge of party's political affairs in poll-bound Gujarat, said his suspension and that of Gupta would not stop him and his party leaders from standing by the people and raising their voice.

''They can suspend us (from Rajya Sabha) as many times they want, do whatsoever they want. We will keep raising voice of the people,'' he said. Hitting out at the government, AAP MP Sanjay Singh demanded that Prime MInister Narendra Modi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Patel should apologise to the people of Gujarat. ''Several people have died due to poisonous liquor in Gujarat which is under the BJP rule for 27 years....Why should we apologise? The BJP should apologise,'' he said.

The parliamentary affairs minister had on Wednesday said the suspension of Opposition MPs can be revoked by the Chair if they apologise and assure that they would not show placards in the House.

As many as 27 opposition MPs – 23 from the Rajya Sabha and four from the Lok Sabha – have so far been suspended for their unruly behaviour and creating ruckus in the respective Houses during ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.

Singh along with other suspended MPs have been sitting on a dharna in Parliament complex since Wednesday in protest against the action against them.