Suspended opposition MPs hold ‘US-India Trap Deal’ poster in protest outside Parliament

New Delhi: A fresh flashpoint erupted in the Parliament premises on Friday as suspended opposition MPs staged a protest outside the Parliament gate, holding up a poster branding a proposed US-India trade agreement a “Trap Deal”, deepening the political standoff during the ongoing Budget Session.

Earlier in the week, eight opposition MPs from the Indian National Congress and the CPI(M) were suspended from the Lok Sabha for the remainder of the Budget Session, which is scheduled to culminate on April 2.




These MPs are Manickam Tagore, Amrinder Singh Raja, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Hibi Eden, Dean Kuriakose, Prashant Padole and Kiran Kumar Reddy of Congress, and S Venkatesan from CPI (M).

On Friday, several of these suspended MPs took their protest outside the Parliament complex where they displayed a banner decrying a perceived “Trap Deal” in the proposed US-India trade negotiations.

The Budget Session, which began with the Union Finance Minister’s budget presentation, has been marred by repeated adjournments.