Accuses Om Birla of acting in ‘blatantly partisan manner’
New Delhi: Opposition parties on Tuesday submitted a notice for moving a resolution to remove Om Birla as Lok Sabha Speaker, alleging that he had acted in a “blatantly partisan” manner in conducting the business of the House and “abused” the constitutional office he occupies.
The Opposition also accused the Speaker of making certain false allegations against the Congress members when he spoke of some “unexpected action” in the Lok Sabha and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to come to the House.
Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, chief whip K Suresh and whip Mohamed Jawed submitted the notice under Article 94 C of the Constitution to Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh on behalf of several Opposition parties, including Congress, Samajwadi Party and DMK.
Sources said the notice was signed by around 120 MPs of the Opposition, including those of Congress, DMK, Samajwadi Party, Left parties and RJD. Shiv Sena UBT and NCP-SP have also extended their support to the notice against the Speaker but their MPs could not sign it. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) is not a signatory to the notice.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has also not signed the notice, the sources said.
The notice was submitted soon after 1 pm, after the Opposition members held a last meeting with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju but their issues remained unresolved.
Later in the day, the Opposition withdrew the notice submitted in the afternoon and replaced it with another one correcting the date.
“We, the undersigned, hereby give notice of a resolution for the removal of Shri Om Birla from the office of Speaker Lok Sabha, in terms of the provisions of Article 94(c) of the Constitution of India, because of the blatantly partisan manner in which he has been conducting the business of the Lok Sabha,” the notice said, according to sources.
On several occasions, leaders of Opposition parties have just not been allowed to speak, which is their basic democratic right in Parliament, the notice said.
Birla directed the Lok Sabha Secretary General to examine the notice served and take appropriate action, the sources said, adding it will be examined and processed according to the rules.
Citing moral grounds, Birla will not preside over Lok Sabha proceedings till the issue regarding his removal from the office is settled.
The Lok Sabha has not been functioning properly ever since Gandhi was not allowed to speak on February 2.
The BJP slammed the Opposition for submitting the notice, saying the time has come for India to “impeach” Rahul Gandhi and the Congress from politics.
“Those who have been impeached of their consciousness are the ones who want to impeach all the constitutional posts of India,” BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters when asked about the Opposition’s notice.
The notice also referred to Birla’s remarks that he had “concrete information” that many Congress members might move towards Prime Minister Modi’s seat and carry out “some unexpected act” as a result of which he had requested him not to come to the House to reply to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address.
“The aforementioned remarks cast blatantly false allegations against the members of the Indian National Congress and are derogatory in nature. The speaker, who is required to be the custodian of the Rules of Procedure and the norms of parliamentary decorum, chose the floor of the House to make such statements, which is indicative of an abuse of this constitutional office,” the notice said.
Govt-Oppn logjam in LS ends
New Delhi: Signalling the end of the gridlock between the treasury and the Opposition benches, Lok Sabha on Tuesday afternoon took up discussion on the Union Budget, which had been held up for days over the Opposition’s demand that Rahul Gandhi be allowed to speak on a variety of issues.
The House assembled at 2 pm after two adjournments, Krishna Prasad Tenneti was in the Chair.
Tenneti asked Congress member Shashi Tharoor to initiate the debate and the Thiruvananthapuram MP started speaking on the issue.
In a day of fast-paced developments, the thaw came soon after Opposition parties submitted a notice to bring a resolution to remove Om Birla as Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
Between 2 pm and 8 pm when the House functioned, members from various parties participated in the debate.
The business advisory committee of the Lok Sabha has allocated 18 hours for the debate with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman likely to respond on Thursday afternoon.
