Parliament was rocked by Telangana issue again today, prompting Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to take the unprecedented step of suspending nine members from Andhra Pradesh for five days, the second time in the same session.
Lok Sabha could not transact any business because of the uproar. It also witnessed an ugly spat between Congress and suspended TDP members after an adjournment and resulted in a complaint being made to the Speaker.
In Rajya Sabha too, two TDP members from the state were suspended for the day for disrupting the House on the issue. Following this, the House functioned normally.
When the Lok Sabha assembled for the day, the Speaker suspended TDP members Kristappa, Venugopal Reddy, K N Rao and Sivaprasad and five Congress MPs A Sai Pratap, Anantha Venkatrami Reddy, N Rajagopal, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy and K Bapi Raju for five days for continuously disrupting the House.
The action was taken under Rule 374(A) of Rules of Procedure of the Lok Sabha. As per the Rule, a member after being named by the Speaker stands "automatically suspended from the service of the House for five consecutive sittings or the remainder of the session, whichever is less".
The Rule regarding automatic suspension is applied in the event of "grave disorder occasioned by a member coming into the Well of the House or abusing the Rules of the House persistently and willfully obstructing its business by shouting slogans".
This is the first instance when the same members were suspended twice in the same session under the Rule which came into being over a decade back. The previous action was on August 23 for paralysing the House since the current session began on August 5.
Immediately after the action at around 11.15 AM, the Speaker adjourned the House till 2 PM.
