The government will consider revoking the suspension of eight Rajya Sabha members only after they apologise for their behaviour in the Upper House, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Tuesday.
The assertion came after a number of Opposition parties, led by the Congress, staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha demanding that the suspension of eight members be revoked.
The Congress was the first to walkout from the House and was later joined by the members of AAP, TMC and Left parties.
"We will consider withdrawal of suspension only after suspended members apologise for their behaviour in Rajya Sabha," Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters outside Parliament.
"We expected the Congress would oppose such unruly behaviour by Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha," he said.
What kind of politics is this that a tweet comes from abroad and MPs behave like this, the minister said, apparently referring to tweets by Rahul Gandhi, who is outside the country accompanying his mother Sonia Gandhi for her medical check-up.
"We have never seen a Congress MP dancing on the Rajya Sabha table and tear papers," Prasad said.
He also asserted that the government had a clear majority in the Rajya Sabha for the passing of the farm Bills on Sunday.