The protests were being held even as a hearing over the same was underway in the Supreme Court, where the court asked the Solicitor General to produce letters of support used by Fadnavis in staking claim to form the government.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi leads a demonstration of party MPs in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Parliament in New Delhi. (Photo: IANS)
Congress leaders clashed with Lok Sabha marshals on Monday after Speaker Om Birla ordered two of the MPs to be taken out forcibly amid protests by the opposition over the issue of government formation in Maharashtra.
According to a report in NDTV, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi claimed that women members of the party were manhandled by the marshals.
Inside the House, two Congress MPs, including TN Prathapan and Hibi Eden, showed a big banner, and other MPs also put up placards and raised slogans against the Modi government saying “Democracy has been murdered in Maharashtra”.
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Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla named the two Congress members when they defied his request to put down the banner.
As the two MPs did not heed to Speaker’s request, Birla directed marshals to keep them out of the House.
Meanwhile, outside the House, Sonia Gandhi was leading a protest of Congress MPs, who had gathered in front of the Gandhi statue and were raising slogans of “Modi government shame shame” and “save our democracy”.
Following the clash between the party leaders and security personnel, Congress MP Hibi Eden claimed that they were raising a very genuine issue in the Lok Sabha and had protested in a democratic manner.
“Unfortunately we were taken out by Marshals who tried to push us forcefully,” he said, adding that they have filed a complaint with the Speaker.
Eden further claimed that the marshals tried to get the banners from them and also manhandled some of their women colleagues.
The protests were being held even as a hearing over the same was underway in the Supreme Court, where the apex court asked the Solicitor General to produce letters of support used by Devendra Fadnavis in staking claim to form the government.
In a sudden development on Saturday, Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the Maharashtra Chief Minister and Nationalist Communist Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar as his deputy by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
The Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP, the three other parties, who were planning to form a government, have challenged the government formation and knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court.
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