New Delhi, March 18 – Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, met Congress MPs whose suspension from the House was lifted on Tuesday and shared tea and coffee with them in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The informal meeting came a day after the Lok Sabha lifted the suspension of eight Congress MPs following a proposal moved by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Kiren Rijiju, in the House.
The lifting followed an expression of regret by the Congress leadership over the conduct of some of its members during the proceedings earlier in the Budget Session.
Party sources said LoP Gandhi interacted with the MPs after the decision and discussed the developments surrounding the suspension and its withdrawal. The MPs also briefed him about the events that had taken place in the House during the period of their suspension.
The suspended MPs included Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Hibi Eden, C. Kiran Kumar Reddy, Prashant Yadaorao Padole, S. Venkatesh and Dean Kuriakose, all of whom belong to the Congress party.
The eight MPs had been suspended on February 3 for the remainder of the Budget Session over allegations of disrupting proceedings and throwing papers towards the Chair during a heated exchange in the Lok Sabha.
Reacting to the development, several Congress MPs welcomed the lifting of the suspension and thanked the party leadership and the Speaker for resolving the issue. At the same time, they maintained that the Opposition would continue to raise public issues and protest against what they described as discrimination against Opposition members in Parliament.
The MPs said the Opposition has an important role in a parliamentary democracy and stressed that their participation in debates and discussions was necessary to ensure that the concerns of the public are raised in the House.