AAP MP Sanjay Singh suspended for session; Piyush Goyal moved motion

Opposition protests in the Rajya Sabha aggravated on Monday after the House suspended AAP MP Sanjay Singh for the remainder of the session. The Opposition has been demanding a statement from the prime minister in the House on the over two-month Manipur violence, but the government has turned down the demand. A floor leaders' meeting to end the House impasse, in RS chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar's chamber, saw acrimonious scenes that ended with Opposition leaders walking out.

To counter the Opposition demand for the PM's statement on Manipur, BJP members had given notices for debating law and order in states where Opposition parties were in power. Minutes after the House assembled on Monday, Dhankhar announced that he had received 11 notices under Rule 176 for short duration discussion on the Manipur violence, law and order situation and attacks on women in Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and other states. The chairman said 27 members had given notices under Rule 267 for suspension of listed business for the discussion.

Dhankhar said he accepted the notices under Rule 176 for a short duration discussion on Manipur. This led to Opposition protests and adjournment within minutes. When the House met again at noon, the protests began again with Sanjay Singh walking into the well of the House, raising slogans and displaying a placard. Dhankhar warned Singh that he would name him. As the protests continued, Leader of the House Piyush Goyal moved a motion to suspend Singh for the rest of the session, which was passed by a voice vote and the House adjourned till 2 pm, and then till 3 pm.


Deputy chairman Harivansh asked Singh to leave the House as he had been suspended for the remainder of the session. Opposition members rose in protest from their seats in solidarity with Singh leading to the adjournment for the day. Singh and other Opposition MPs later sat on a dharna near the Mahatma Gandhi statue at the Parliament House complex.

Earlier in the day, no truce could be reached at the floor leaders meeting. A second meeting was called after the day's business was paralysed but Dhankhar put the condition that only leaders of parties with five or more members could attend. Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge did not attend the meeting, during which Dhankar asked AAP's Raghav Chadha, Trinamool's Shantanu Sen and CPI's Binoy Vishwam to leave as they were not floor leaders. This irked all Opposition MPs and they walked out, as per those present in the meeting.