With suspension of 95 LS MPs, India bloc loses two-third of strength in House

New Delhi : With the fresh suspension of 49 MPs from the Lok Sabha for the remainder of the Winter Session, the Opposition’s Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc has lost almost two-third of its strength in the House.

The INDIA bloc MPs had been protesting in the House, demanding a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on the December 13 Parliament security breach. Tuesday’s suspension of 49 MPs follows Monday’s suspension of 33 MPs. Earlier on December 14 as many as 13 MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha.

Now, the total Lok Sabha MPs suspended stands at 95 out of 138 MPs of the INDIA bloc parties as only 43 MPs are left in the House. Now, only nine MPs of the Congress, including former party presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, are left in the House.

Among the suspended MPs, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Trinamool Congress' floor leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, are also included.

As many as 13 of the Trinamool Congress’ 22 MPs have been suspended, while 16 out of 24 DMK MPs and the lone AAP MP Sushil Kumar Rinku stand suspended.

Among other INDIA bloc parties, three Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MPs belonging to the Sharad Pawar faction, including floor leader Supriya Sule, have been suspended out of the four who are supporting the Opposition.

From the National Conference, two of the three MPs, including Farooq Abdullah, were suspended. None of the six MPs of the Shiv Sena (UBT) have been suspended.

All three MPs of the Indian Union Muslim League, lone MPs from VCK and RSP, two of the three Samajwadi Party MPs, including Dimple Yadav, two of three MPs of the CPI(M), and one of the two MPs of the CPI also stand suspended from the Lok Sabha.

Danish Ali, who was recently suspended from the BSP, is also among the MPs suspended from the Lok Sabha.

The INDIA bloc has been demanding a discussion on December 13 Parliament security breach after two people jumped from the visitors’ gallery into the Lok Sabha chamber. The Delhi Police has arrested six people in connection with its probe into the Parliament security breach case.