The AAP’s Sanjay Singh has been suspended from the Rajya Sabha; 24 MPs have been taken into custody so far.

Deputy Chairman Harivansh invoked Rule 256 and named Mr Singh for tearing papers and throwing them at the Chair on Tuesday.

New Delhi: 

Aam Aadmi Party member Sanjay Singh is the latest among 24 suspended from the Parliament for “unruly behaviour”. Mr Singh was today suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the remaining part of this week after he threw papers at the Chair yesterday. 24 MPs, including 20 from the Rajya Sabha, have been suspended so far. 

The 20 suspended Rajya Sabha MPs will hold a relay protest for 50 hours in the Parliament complex, Trinamool MP Dola Sen said according to news agency PTI.

Yesterday when the house reassembled at 3:42 pm, Sanjay Singh and some other members were raising slogans demanding raising the issue of at least 28 people dying due to the consumption of illicit or toxic liquor in Gujarat’s Botad district. When the chair requested him to go back, he tore up papers and threw them at the Chair, the Chair said.

Mr Singh swiftly responded to his suspension saying he is still in the House and “will keep seeking answers for 55 deaths due to poisonous liquor in Gujarat”.

“Modi ji may have suspended me, but will keep fighting, seeking answers for 55 deaths due to poisonous liquor in Gujarat. I am in the house now,” he tweeted in Hindi along with a video clip of the Chair announcing his suspension.

Soon after the House met for Question Hour at 12 noon, Deputy Chairman Harivansh invoked Rule 256 and named Mr Singh, saying his action was in utter disregard of rules and the authority of the Chair. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan then moved a motion to suspend Mr Singh from the House for the remainder of the week.

The motion was adopted by voice vote, even as opposition members continued to raise uproar in the well of the house.

Amid continued sloganeering by opposition members, the deputy chairman adjourned the House briefly for 15 minutes.

The suspension comes a day after 19 MPs of opposition parties including seven from the TMC, six from the DMK, besides those from the TRS, CPI-M and CPI, were suspended for their unruly behaviour in the house.

Yesterday, when 19 opposition MPs were suspended from Rajya Sabha for the rest of the week for disrupting the session, BJP’s Piyush Goyal said the decision was taken “with a heavy heart”. 

“The government is ready for a debate on price rise once Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recovers and returns to parliament,” said Mr Goyal, leader of the house in Rajya Sabha.

Earlier this week, four Congress MPs in Lok Sabha were dealt with similar action for the entire monsoon session, ending August 12, for holding placards inside the house despite warnings by Speaker Om Birla to behave.

Opposition MPs in Rajya Sabha have been demanding an urgent discussion on issues like price rise and goods and services tax, or GST, hike for the past many days, leading to disruptions in the house. They have stalled the proceedings in both houses ever since the start of the monsoon session on July 18.

The opposition is demanding that the discussions be held under Rule 267 (Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha). Under this rule, the issue being raised is taken up by suspending the listed business of the day.

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