Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday revoked the suspension of 11 Opposition MPs who were shown the door during the Winter Session of Parliament.
Dhankhar revoked their suspension shortly after the Rajya Sabha Privileges Committee held them guilty of breach of privilege and contempt of the Council of States.
The committee, according to reports, recommended the Rajya Sabha chairman that the period of suspension already suffered by the Opposition MPs be treated as “sufficient”.
“Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar invoked the authority vested in him to revoke the suspension of all 11 members of the House, enabling them to attend the Special address by the President to be held on 31st January, 2024 on the first day of Budget Session,” ANI cited the sources in the Vice-President’s office said.
The revocation of their suspension comes a day before the special address of President Droupadi Murmu to both Houses of Parliament ahead of the budget session.
The committee’s report was presented to the House. However, taking note of the President’s address, it was presented to the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
The MPs whose suspension has been revoked are Congress’s Jebi Mather, L Hanumanthaiah, Neeraj Dangi, Rajmani Patel, Kumar Ketkar, and GC Chandrasekhar, CPI’s Binoy Viswam and Sandosh Kumar P, DMK’s Mohamad Abdulla and CPIM’s John Brittas and AA Rahim.
As many as 146 Opposition MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha during the Winter Session in December last year amid ruckus over the issue of Parliament security breach.
The suspension of 132 MPs was valid until the Winter Session and ended on December 29. However, 14 of them remained suspended untill a privilege committee inquiry.