11 Rajya Sabha MPs’ suspension revoked ahead of Budget session

New Delhi, January 30

A day before the commencement of the Budget session of Parliament, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday revoked the suspension of 11 members, even as they were held guilty of breach of privilege and contempt of council, thus allowing them to attend the President’s Address to both Houses of Parliament on January 31.

Held guilty of breach of privilege

• RS privileges panel held 11 MPs guilty of breach of privilege and contempt of council, but treated period of suspension as sufficient punishment
• RS Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar decided to revoke suspension to let MPs attend President’s Address in new Parliament building, say sources

According to sources, the Chairman invoked his authority to revoke the suspension of 11 members, who were suspended during the winter session in December and their cases were sent to the privileges committee of the Rajya Sabha. The decision was taken to enable the members to attend the historic special address by President Droupadi Murmu in the new Parliament building, the sources added. Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said after the all-party meeting of floor leaders, the government had requested the Chairman to revoke the suspensions of the 11 MPs, considering it was the last session of the 17th Lok Sabha.

The privileges committee held the 11 members — Jebi Mather Hisham, L Hanumanthaiah, Neeraj Dangi, Rajmani Patel, Kumar Ketkar, GC Chandrashekhar, Binoy Viswam, Sandosh Kumar P, M Mohamed Abdulla, John Brittas and AA Rahim — guilty of breach of privilege and contempt of the council. It further recommended the period of suspension already suffered by the members be treated as sufficient punishment for the transgression.

The report was presented to the Upper House, however, the Chairman invoked the authority vested in him — including under Rules 202 and 266 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) — to revoke their suspension enabling the members to attend the address by the President, sources said further.

A total of 146 MPs, including members of both Houses, were suspended last month for staging protests seeking a statement by Home Minister Amit Shah on the security breach in Parliament. As many as 132 MPs were suspended for remainder of winter session over protests.

Cases of remaining 14, 11 from RS and 3 from LS, were referred to privileges committees of both Houses; LS panel lifted suspension of 3 LS on Jan 12

The Budget session, meanwhile, will commence on Wednesday with the President’s Address to both Houses, while Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Interim Budget on February 1. A discussion on the motion of thanks on the President’s Address will be held on February 2.

Joshi said the government was willing to discuss all issues during the session. Since it is the last session of the current LS, no Bills would be presented, he stated.

During the all-party meet, the Centre assured the leaders of various political parties that they were ready to discuss every issue. Defence Minister and deputy leader in the LS Rajnath Singh, Joshi and his deputy Arjun Ram Meghwal represented the government at the meeting.

Congress’ Pramod Tiwari and K Suresh, TMC’s Sudip Bandopadhyay, DMK’s TR Baalu, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) leader Rahul Shewale, SP’s ST Hasan, and TDP’s Jayadev Galla were among the Opposition leaders present at the meeting. The Shiv Sena (UBT) stayed away from the meeting.

Joshi said 45 leaders from 30 parties attended the meeting, during which the issue of violent attack and Assam Government’s curbs imposed on Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra was raised by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari.