Protest, walkout in lower house

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday witnessed protest and walkout, first by Congress and DMK MPs over the Centre withdrawing SPG protection to the Gandhi family and then by various Opposition parties over the police handling of the protest by Jawaharlal Nehru University students in Delhi.

Congress and DMK members entered the Well of the House after Speaker Om Birla didn’t allow their adjournment motion on the SPG matter. Later, when the Chair allowed the matter to be raised briefly before Zero Hour, Congress’ floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said: “Sonia Gandhiji and Rahul Gandhiji are not normal protectees. Vajpayeeji had allowed Special Protection Group (SPG) to continue for the Gandhi family. From 1991 to 2019, NDA came to power several times but their SPG cover was never removed.”

DMK member TR Balu too protested against the government decision to remove SPG cover of the Congress leaders. While Congress and DMK members staged a walkout, other Opposition leaders chose to remain in the House.


It is also learnt that Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who used the main Parliament entrance on Monday after the withdrawal of SPG cover, has been allowed to use gate number nine, used by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and former prime minister Manmohan Singh.