'No question of apologising', says suspended TMC MPs on open-air protest

|HT|

There is 'no question of apologising', two Trinamool Congress MPs declared Thursday as suspended opposition parliamentarians begin the second day of their 50-hour relay protest inside the Parliament complex. Mausam Noor and Shanta Chhetri were responding to union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi's statement that their suspension - and that of nearly two dozen other opposition leaders - could be lifted on furnishing an apology. "We will not apologise as we haven't done anything wrong. We raised the issue of common people... country is suffering from price rise and raising that issue is not wrong," Chhetri said.

"There is no question of apologising. We want to have discussions on price rise in Parliament but we were suspended. Our 50-hour long protest will continue outside," Noor declared.

Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh, also among the suspended, was similarly defiant and said: "I want the Modi government and the parliamentary affairs minister to apologise to the people of Gujarat. BJP has been ruling there for 27 years (but) several people died after drinking spurious liquor. I wanted to have discussions on this issue in Parliament."

On Wednesday, Pralhad Joshi had said the suspension could be revoked if the MPs apologise to the Rajya Sabha chairperson and promise not to show placards - banned this session as 'unparliamentary behaviour' - in the House again. "We have been maintaining the government is ready for a discussion on price rise… we can start discussion from today," he said, indicating debates had been delayed because finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is recovering from Covid.

Both Chhetri and Noor are among 19 Rajya Sabha MPs who have been suspended for a week after vociferous protests and chaos in the Upper House over criticism of the government for soaring food, fuel and essential goods prices in the country, as well as the GST issue.

Seven of the 19 are from the Trinamool Congress.

A day earlier, four Congress MPs from the Lok Sabha were also suspended.

20 of the suspended MPs spent Wednesday night in the open air and near the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliament complex, with breakfast provided by Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK. The protesting MPs had asked for a tent but that was denied. They can, however, use the toilet in the bathroom of the Parliamentary library.

The monsoon session of parliament has seen little or no work done due to relentless protests by opposition MPs of both Houses, with agitations on inflation, GST and the Enforcement Directorate's questioning of Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi among the flash points.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)