New Delhi, February 9 Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, along with some other opposition leaders, met with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday and briefed him on the issues he wished to raise in the House.
The meeting, which lasted for a few minutes, took place after proceedings in the lower house were adjourned for the day amid a standoff between the government and the opposition over Gandhi's demand that he be allowed to speak before the discussion on the Union Budget began.
Sources said Gandhi told the Speaker that he wanted to raise the issue of the suspension of eight Congress MPs, as well as other issues related to Parliament, including the charges made against the female MPs.
Birla had stated in the House last week that he had "concrete information" that many Congress members might move towards Prime Minister Narendra 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.
TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, DMK leader T R Baalu, and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav were also present during Gandhi's meeting with the Speaker.
The opposition leaders urged the Speaker to revoke the suspension of the eight Lok Sabha MPs to end the deadlock.
The Lok Sabha has been witnessing disruptions since February 3, after Gandhi was disallowed by the chair from quoting from an article based on excerpts of former Army chief M M Naravane's "unpublished memoir" in which he has referred to the India-China conflict of 2020.
