Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2 pm amid continuing stand-off over suspension of 12 members

As soon as the House met after the weekend, and papers were laid on the Table of the House by various ministers, Chairman Naidu announced that he was not accepting the notices by Opposition members, and that they should allow the House to function first.

“I am not accepting the notices; first the House should be allowed to function, only then,” he said, as Opposition members started raising their voices in protest.

The Chair announced Zero Hour, but the protests continued.

Chairman Naidu said that he had requested on Friday that the Government and Opposition sit down and discuss the issue of the suspension of the 12 members.

He said the Minister had met him and briefed him on the situation, and added he was disappointed.

As Opposition members rose from their chairs and held placards to register their protest, the Chair asked them to sit down and forbade holding of placards.

“My concern is discipline, discussion, debate, decorum, but you are not allowing it,” he said, and announced adjournment of the House till 2 pm.

On Nov 29, the first day of the Winter Session, Chairman Naidu suspended 12 MPs from five political parties for the rest of the session, for “unruly conduct” on the last day of the Monsoon Session on August 11.

The order stated that they were being suspended for “unprecedented acts of misconduct”, “unruly and violent behaviour” and “intentional attacks on security personnel”.

The Government and Opposition are locked in a standoff over the issue of suspension of the 12 members, with Leader of the House and Union Minister Piyush Goyal insisting that the Opposition must apologise for the attack on women marshalls and other staff of the House during the Monsoon Session, and the Opposition refusing to do so.