Suspension Of Seven Congress Lok Sabha MPs On Charges Of ‘Gross Misconduct’ Revoked

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday (11 March) revoked the suspension of seven Congress lawmakers who were suspended last week for the remainder of the Budget session on charges of ‘gross misconduct’, reports Times of India.

The seven Congress MPs include T N Prathapan, Dean Kuriakose, Gaurav Gogoi, Unnithan, Gurpreet Singh Aujala, Benny Behanan and Manikkam Tagore.

Birla took the decision following a short debate by members representing their parties in the House. The debate began in the Lower House after an all party meeting was chaired by the Speaker in his chamber in Parliament.

Later, all members in the House in a voice vote gave their nod to the proposal presented by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal to revoke the suspension.

Before announcing the withdrawal of the 5 March suspension order against the Congress MPs, Birla said: "All members have expressed their views. They talked about India''s unity. Whenever the question is raised against Parliament, all members try to maintain the dignity of the House because it is a temple of expectations of 130 crore Indians."

"Everybody wants that Parliament should be sacred. Last two sessions have been excellent. Despite disruptions, the House was not suspended. I am personally unhappy over whatever incident happened in the House in the last few days. Showing placard in Parliament, throwing papers and other things was not good,” he said.

Referring to the all-party meeting, Birla said several parties assured that their members will not come to the well.

"I am happy over this assurance. Agreement and disagreement is a natural instinct. But we should not cross the limits and respect the dignity of the House. I don't want to take decisions to suspend members of the House for their conduct,” he added.

(With inputs from IANS)