New Delhi: The ninth day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament commenced on Friday amid protests by the Opposition in both Houses.
The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned within minutes, as Opposition leaders continued to demand a discussion on the issue of price rise, GST and the Agnipath recruitment scheme, Indian Express reported.
Amid escalating tension, another three members of Rajya Sabha were suspended on Thursday for the rest of the week for alleged misconduct, taking the total number of Opposition MPs suspended from the Upper House this session to 23.
Earlier this week, four Congress MPs were suspended from Lok Sabha for the remainder of the current session, the Indian Express report said. The suspension of 23 MPs over three days is the highest in the recent history of Parliament.
Deepening the divide in Parliament, already rocked by noisy protests and repeated adjournments, GoI Minister Smriti Irani and Congress president Sonia Gandhi faced off on Thursday, prompting the BJP and Congress to hurl accusations of “intimidation” and “heckling” at each other in the wake of a remark by Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury regarding President Droupadi Murmu.
In an interview with The Indian Express, Congress leader Chowdhury that the GoI was using his recent ‘slip of tongue’ to “create a fuss only to divert people’s attention from issues such as back-breaking price-rise”.