New Delhi: Congress MP Rajani Patil will remain suspended from the Rajya Sabha as the House privileges committee has not submitted its report on the matter, Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar announced Thursday.
Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned for the session Thursday. The next time Parliament meets will be for the Monsoon session scheduled for July-August.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, also the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, shot off a letter to Dhankhar after the announcement, pointing out that the extension of Patil’s suspension violated parliamentary rules, specifically 256 (2) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States.
The rule states that a member cannot be suspended from the House for a period that extends beyond the remainder of the session in which they were suspended. For Patil, this would be the Budget session.
“You will recall that 13 opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha met your good self today morning and made a request that the suspension of Smt. Rajani Ashokrao Patil may be revoked. You, however, chose to ignore this collective request made by floor leaders of opposition parties,” Kharge said in his letter.
He then cited rule 256 (2) to say that the continuation of Patil’s suspension was a “blatant violation” of parliamentary traditions.
“Such a development is most unfortunate and unprecedented in parliamentary history,” said Kharge.
Patil was suspended from the Rajya Sabha in February for allegedly video-recording the ruckus in the House during PM Narendra Modi’s speech in the Budget session.
“In the public domain yesterday, on Twitter, there was a dissemination of a video relating to proceedings of this House… Rajani Ashokrao Patil engaged in this unwholesome activity and what has been seen is a matter that must engage our attention,” Dhankhar had said before suspending Patil.
Patil had responded by saying that she was being given “phaansi ki saza” or the worst possible punishment for a “minor infraction”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also read: Naatu Naatu fever hits RS after Oscar. IUML suggests MPs shake a leg, BJP says ‘India has arrived’