19 opposition lawmakers suspended from upper house of Indian parliament-Xinhua

19 opposition lawmakers suspended from upper house of Indian parliament

Source: Xinhua| 2022-07-26 22:14:00|Editor: huaxia

NEW DELHI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Nineteen lawmakers from opposition parties were suspended on Tuesday from the upper house of the Indian parliament (Rajya Sabha) for staging protests and disrupting the proceedings.

The lawmakers will remain suspended for the rest of the week.

Federal junior minister for Parliamentary affairs V Muraleedharan moved a motion to suspend the lawmakers.

According to officials, seven of the suspended lawmakers belonged to the Trinamool Congress, six from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), three from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, two from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and one from the Communist Party of India (CPI).

The suspended members kept protesting inside the house.

The lawmakers have been demanding an urgent discussion on issues like price rise, levying of goods and services tax on daily essentials, etc., for the past many days, leading to disruptions in the house.

"The government is ready for a debate on price rise once finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman recovers and returns to parliament," said Piyush Goyal, minister of commerce and industry as well as a lawmaker from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Sitharaman, according to officials, has recently tested positive for COVID-19 after she return from Bali, Indonesia, where she had gone to attend G20 Finance Ministers' meeting.

Last week she came wearing a full PPE kit to cast her vote in the Presidential election.

On Monday four lawmakers belonging to the opposition Congress party were suspended from the lower house of the Indian parliament (Lok Sabha) for the entire ongoing monsoon session for staging protests and displaying placards inside the house over price rise.

The monsoon session of the parliament began on July 18 and will continue until Aug. 12.

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