TMC MP Derek O'Brien with Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut at Parliament House complex during Monsoon session, in New Delhi, Tuesday, August 8, 2023. Derek O'Brien on Tuesday was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the rest of the Monsoon session.
Credit: PTI Photo
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O'Brien on Tuesday faced suspension from the Upper House but the motion suggesting action was not put to vote, allowing him to continue to attend the proceedings.
The Rajya Sabha witnessed high drama during the morning session with Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and O'Brien locking horns over the demand for a debate on Manipur issue and later Opposition leaders appealing to the Chair not to go ahead with suspending the Trinamool leader for the rest of the session.
Dhankhar had earlier announced the suspension of O'Brien from the House citing his "unruly behaviour" and asked him to leave the House. However, the motion was not put to vote, which the Chairman acknowledged when the House reconvened.
Congress Deputy Leader Pramod Tiwari urged Dhankhar to take a lenient view but the Chairman said, "If O'Brien would have been suspended from the House for this session, do you think he would have been allowed to enter the House again? Can he come back again? I have ended my own pain, no one has done that. If the motion was passed fully, O'Brien could not have entered the House again."
He said he did not take the sense of the House (on the motion) deliberately as it is his obligation to ensure to an extreme degree that the House runs.
"I have been extremely accommodative whenever the TMC MP has come to my chamber," Dhankhar said to which O'Brien objected saying he did not go to the Chairman's chamber between 11 am and 12 noon on Tuesday. Dhankhar said he did not refer to any meeting during the day but he was talking in general.
Several members spoke about being lenient towards O'Brien while earlier in the day, Dhankhar had suggested to the Leader of the House Piyush Goyal to move the motion seeking suspension of O'Brien till the remainder of the session.
"Derek O'Brien is suspended for the remaining part of the current session for his unruly behaviour unbecoming of a member today, shouting slogans from the ell of the House, thereby disregarding instructions of the Chair and for bringing disrepute to the House," the motion read by Goyal said.
The Chairman then announced, "Derek O'Brien is directed to leave the House. He is suspended for the rest of the session" but no vote was taken.