New Delhi, April 24: Eight Congress MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha on Tuesday for four days for disrupting the proceedings of the House demanding statehood for Telangana region.
The MPs - Ponnam Prabhakar, Madhu Yashki Goud, S Rajaiah, G Vivek, Balram Naik, Komatireddy Rajagopal, Manda Jaganatham and Gutta Sukender Reddy rushed to the podium as soon as the House met on Tuesday raising pro-Telangana slogans. They also demanded the introduction of Telangana Bill in the House.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister P Chidambaram were also present in the House when the MPs began protest. Having failed to restore order following protest by the Telangana MPs, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar had to adjourn the House thrice.
However, when the House met again at 2 pm, the MPs continued with the slogan shouting demanding Telangana. The MPs categorically stated that they were ready to face any consequences to achieve statehood for Telangana region.
After the MPs refused to end protest, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee consulted Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav, Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav and Communist Party of India (CPI) MP Gurudas Dasgupta on the action to be taken against the MPs.
The issue was also discussed during the Congress Core Committee meeting attended by Sonia Gandhi, the Prime Minister, Chidambaram, Sonia's Advisor Ahmed Patel and other senior leaders.
The Congress wanted to suspend the Telangana MPs for rest of the budget session. However, the CPI opposed such a harsh action and advised that MPs be suspended for only four days. The proposal was supported by Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Yadav, AIADMK leaders and even the BJP.
After the informal meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal moved the motion before the Speaker to suspend eight Telangana MPs for four days from the House.
However, the suspended MPs refused to leave the House and staged a sit-in protest against their suspension.
- INN
