Congress submitted the notice of no-confidence motion against the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to the Secretary General of the Upper House during the Parliament Budget Session. This comes in the wake of Birla not allowing Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders from speaking in the House on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, as well as for the suspension of eight MPs.
At 1.14 pm today, the opposition party submitted the notice for the no-confidence motion against the Lok Sabha Speaker under Rule 94C of rules and procedures, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said.
In a major breakthrough, Congress sources told ANI that the Leader of Opposition of Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi did not sign the notice of no-confidence motion against the Speaker, as it is not proper for the LoP to sign a petition for the removal of the Speaker in a parliamentary democracy.
118 MPs of parties including Congress, RJD, Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) have signed the notice for moving a resolution to remove Birla from office.
The no-confidence motion against the Lok Sabha submitted by Congress, states,” Notice of a resolution for the removal of Om Birla from the office of Speaker Lok Sabha, in terms of the provisions of Article 94(c) of the Constitution of India, has been given because of the blatantly partisan manner in which he has been conducting the business of the Lok Sabha. On several occasions, Leaders of Opposition Parties have just not been allowed to speak, which is their basic democratic right in Parliamen ..
Speaker Om Birla directed Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh to examine the notice served by the opposition, sources told PTI.
Birla has directed the secretary general to examine the notice and take appropriate action, the sources said, adding that it will be examined and processed according to rules.
Congress MP and chief whip K Suresh submitted the notice to the Lok Sabha secretariat on behalf of several opposition parties.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs are said to wait before signing the no-confidence motion resolution against Birla, as leader Abhishek Banerjee suggested that the Opposition should first write a letter in the form of a protest to the Speaker with the signature of all MPs.
Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to speak in the House during the discussion on the motion of Thanks to the President’s Address during the ongoing Budget Session.
The opposition leader was citing Army Chief General MM Naravane’s “unpublished memoir” to discuss India’s 2020 standoff against China, which attracted opposition from the Speaker and the ruling party members present at the Parliament. The Speaker then passed a ruling, asking Gandhi not cite unpublished literature, citing parliamentary rules and ethics. He further denied permission to proceed with the reading.
The Lok Sabha witnessed multiple adjournments as the Opposition demanded that Gandhi be allowed to quote from Naravane’s unpublished memoir. Gandhi moved a magazine article after authenticating it and sought the Speaker’s permission to quote from it.
Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was in Chair, asked him to table it and said the chair will take note of it. But Gandhi continued, “As I said yesterday that I want to bring up a very important matter, the matter of national security and the relationship between us and the Chinese and the Pakistanis… It speaks about the reaction of the prime minister…”
Last week, Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju moved the motion for suspension of eight MPs, including Hibi Eden, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Kiran Kumar Reddy, Prashant Padole, S Venkataraman and Dean Kuriakose, after they tore papers and flung them towards Tenneti, who was in the Chair.
On being asked to stick to the President’s speech, Gandhi said, “If the issue is about me quoting a magazine which I have authenticated, I am happy not to quote it directly. I should be allowed to speak about it.”
“You have been given permission to speak about the President’s speech,” Tenneti responded.
The word “permission” triggered the Opposition and Gandhi said, “You cannot give me permission to speak, sir. I am the leader of the Opposition. It is my right.”
Source: The Economic Times
