No remorse: Venkaiah Naidu refuses to revoke suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha MPs

New Delhi, Nov 30: Amid utter chaos in Rajya Sabha, chairman Venkaiah Naidu rejected opposition request to revoke suspension of 12 MPs, saying the House is empowered to take such decision under sections 256 and 259.

"Bitter experience of the last Monsoon Session still continues to haunt most of us. I was expecting and waiting for the leading lights of the House to take lead in expressing outrage over what happened in the last session," Naidu said.

The Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is empowered to take action and also the House can take action: Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge demanded the revocation of suspension of 12 MPs in the Upper House.

"We came to your office to request for revocation of the suspension of 12 MPs. The incident happened in the last Monsoon session. So, how can you take this decision now," Kharge said.

"Gross violation of rules of procedure. At the time, minister was moving motion, I sought to raise a point of order. As per well established conventions, every member should be permitted. LoP have to be allowed. I was not allowed. This is a gross violation of Parliamentary convention," Kharge said.

Opposition MPs staged walkout from Rajya Sabha after House Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu rejects revocation of suspension of 12 MPs.

The suspended MPs are -- six from the Congress, two each from Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, and one each from CPI and CPM. The motion to suspend Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, Ripun Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of the Congress; Dola Sen, Shanta Chhetri of Trinamool Congress; Priyanka Chaturvedi, Anil Desai of Shiv Sena; Elamaram Kareem of CPM; and Binoy Viswam of CPI was moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi. It was passed by voice vote despite objections by opposition parties.

The motion was brought under rule 256 - which provides for suspending a member for "disregard" of the authority of the Chair or "abuse" of the rules of the Council by "persistently and willfully obstructing the business thereof."