JOIN USCongress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday said the suspension of the party’s 25 members in the Lok Sabha marked a black day for democracy and set the stage for intensifying the stand-off with the Modi government.
“It is a black day for democracy,” Gandhi told reporters after going into a huddle with party members and opposition leaders who agreed to close ranks with the Congress.
Trinamool Congress leader Sudeep Bandyopadhyay and got in touch with Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha and AIADMK leader M Thambidurai to enlist his support.
Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said the Modi government was implementing the Gujarat model in Delhi by suspending members of Opposition parties.
By Monday evening the Congress claimed to have formed an alliance of nine parties – the NCP, Trinamool, JD (U), CPI(M), AAP, RJD, CPI, IUML and RSP. Members of these nine parties announced that they too would boycott Parliament for the next four days till when the suspension of Congress members would remain in force. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan justified her decision to suspend the agitating members. “I was warning them since morning that I will have to name them but they were not heeding. The limit was crossed when an attempt was made to shadow the Speaker (through placards),” Mahajan said. The Speaker said she was forced to take action as the members did not pay heed to to her warnings despite the assurances given to her at an all-party meeting convened on Thursday by her.
That disruptions would rule the remaining part of the Monsoon Session became clear on Monday morning with Gandhi declaring that her party would continue with the ‘resign-now-debate-later’ policy.