Opposition leaders meet at Sonia Gandhi's residence over situation in Parliament

Top Opposition party leaders on Tuesday gathered at the residence of Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi to discuss the strategy to question the government in the ongoing winter session of Parliament.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP TR Baalu, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge were among those who participated in the meeting.

A key demand of the Opposition in the ongoing winter session of the Parliament has been the revocation of the suspension of 12 members of the Upper House. Earlier in the day Opposition MPs held a protest march from Parliament to Vijay Chowk.

Opposition parties including Congress, DMK, RJD, Left, NCP, and TMC also staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha after their demand to revoke the suspension of 12 MPs was rejected by Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh.

The walkout followed repeated denial from the Chair to revoke the suspension of MPs as demanded by Kharge.

Kharge raised the issue when the House reassembled at 2 pm after its first adjournment over the same issue and the Chair took The Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2021 for discussion, saying "I have written a special letter to you. We want a discussion over the Bill. We have come with all preparations. If you don't allow us to speak, we walk out from the House."

Joint Opposition including Congress, DMK, Trinamool Congress, Left, NCP, RJD, IUML, Shiv Sena among others staged a walkout from the House following the announcement of the LoP.

In a move that angered the Opposition and set the stage for acrimonious exchanges, a dozen members of Opposition parties in Rajya Sabha were suspended from the winter session on the very first day on November 29 following a motion brought in by the government.

The members were suspended for alleged unruly conduct towards the end of the monsoon session in August when marshals were called after Opposition members stormed the Well of the House during the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021.

The suspended members comprise six from the Congress, two each from Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, and one each from CPI and CPM: Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, Ripun Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of Congress; Dola Sen, Shanta Chhetri of Trinamool Congress; Priyanka Chaturvedi, Anil Desai of Shiv Sena; Elamaram Kareem of CPM; and, Binoy Viswam of CPI.

All the suspended 12 MPs often sit in protest near Mahatma Gandhi statue inside the Parliament premises demanding revocation of suspension, and the Opposition parties have been relentlessly disrupting House proceedings every day over the issue barring a few occasions.

( With inputs from ANI )

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