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LS suspends 3 more MPs; Kharge accuses PM Modi of ‘violation of privilege’
The action comes hours after the INDIA bloc marched from the Parliament to Vijay Chowk against the government.
New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla suspended three more Opposition MPs over "unruly behaviour" on Thursday, taking the total number of suspensions to 146. The action comes hours after the INDIA bloc marched from the Parliament to Vijay Chowk against the government. The three MPs suspended today -- DK Suresh, Nakul Nath and Deepak Baij -- belong to the Congress party.
During the protest, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi had violated parliamentary privilege by not speaking on the security breach issue inside the Parliament.
Reacting to the suspension of MPs and passage of important bills in the absence of Opposition, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said the government didn't want the Opposition in the House.
"It's like batting in a cricket match without any fielders. They are bringing very far-reaching laws which will have grave impact on to the daily life of this country, but they don't want any discussion, debate or dissent about it," he said.
Carrying a huge 'Save Democracy' banner and placards with messages like 'Opposition MPs Suspended' 'Parliament Caged' and ''Democracy Expelled' written on them, the lawmakers took out the march, PTI reported.
Kharge said after the march that PM Modi spoke about the Lok Sabha security breach outside the Parliament but not inside it.
"We wanted to raise Parliament security breach issue as to why it happened and who is responsible. Parliament is a big Panchayat. If one will not speak in Parliament where would one speak. It is unfortunate that Home Minister Shah and Prime Minister Modi did not come to the House to apprise about the security breach. They spoke about issues which should be spoken in the House, outside it," he said.
He claimed PM Modi had disrespected the Parliament.
"He (Modi) talks in Varanasi, Ahmedabad, on TV but not in Parliament. They have disrespected the House. He should come and speak in the House first, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Instead of that he was speaking outside. This is condemnable and it was a violation of privilege (of House)," Kharge alleged.
Meanwhile, BJP MP SP Singh Baghel slammed the Opposition for supporting TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over the row triggered by the former's mimicry of Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar.
"INDIA Alliance is working with the principle of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’. The suspended members should look into their actions, it was the Parliament session and not the set of a comedy show," he said.
With inputs from PTI, ANI
