Lok Sabha speaker suspends 25 Congress members

New Delhi, Aug 3
The parliament logjam took an ugly turn on Monday when Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 25 Congress MPs for five days for "willfully obstructing the business of the house".

The Congress MPs, including Gaurav Gogoi, Sushmita Dev, Ranjeet Ranjan, K.C. Venugopal and Deepinder Singh Hooda, were "named" under rule 374(A).

The rule says in the event of grave disorder occasioned by a member coming into the well of the house or abusing the rules persistently and willfully obstructing its business by shouting slogans or otherwise, such member shall, on being named by the speaker, stand automatically suspended from the service of the house for five consecutive sittings or the remainder of the session, whichever is less.

All the Congress members protesting in the well, however, kept up their high decibel protest inside the house even while their names were being read out.

Earlier, the Lok Sabha secretariat had said 27 members have been suspended. They later corrected the number to 25.

The speaker's action came soon after the failure of an all party meeting called by the government to break the parliament logjam.

The members of the Congress, which has been protesting demanding the resignations of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and two BJP chief ministers, have been holding placards and shouting slogans in the house.

They were protesting against the government over the Lalit Modi issue and Vyapam scam.

The Congress has 44 members in the Lok Sabha.

Immediately after naming the members, Mahajan adjourned the house for the day.