Eight suspended MPs had been demonstrating sit-in protests for two days in the Parliament premises when the Deputy Chairperson, Harivansh Singh, of the Rajya Sabha brought tea for the protestors on Tuesday morning. The protestors have spent the last night in the lawns near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi within the premises of the Parliament. AAP MLA Sanjay Singh, who is a part of the protest, tweeted “Whole night was spent under the open sky in front of Bapu’s statue.”
According to reports, the protestors did not accept the tea and snacks brought by Singh. The eight MLAs in protest had been earlier suspended from the Parliament proceedings for alleged misbehaviour towards Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha, Harivansh Singh during the discussion regarding the passing of the Farm Bills on Sunday. Rajya Sabha Chairperson Venkaiah Naidu said that an MP from Bihar was physically threatened during the alleged lawlessness in the Parliament room and no-confidence motion against the deputy chairperson was rejected as the required 14 days’ notice was not provided. The Congress called the Bills ‘undemocratic’ and ‘ one-sided’.
Among the suspended MLAs protesting are Derek O’Brien, Rajeev Satav, Elamaram Kareem and KK Ragesh. They had been opposing some of the Bills that appeared in Rajya Sabha List of Business announced for Tuesday. Due to their suspension, the names of these MPs do not appear in the list.
The Monsoon session of the Rajya Sabha was supposed to end on 1st October. However, with a number of MPs being tested for the CoronaVirus, it might end earlier than expected.
