The Lok Sabha today held a discussion over price rise and revoked the suspension of four Congress MPs who were suspended on 26 July. The MPs were protesting with placards and shouting slogans against price rise and ignored repeated warnings from the Speaker.

The four Congress MPs — Manickam Tagore, Ramya Haridas, Jothimani and T.N. Prathapan — were suspended last Monday for the entire Monsoon Session ending August 12 for holding protests with placards inside the House. Speaker Om Birla had earlier warned them to behave and not to wave the placards inside the House if they wanted to protest.

After days of ruckus and adjournment, both the houses Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha today resumed proceedings amid huge uproar by opposition leaders.

The Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla today said if members bring placards and protest in the House, he will be forced to act against them. “We want all members to take part in the proceedings of the House,” he said.

Besides, the government on Monday said it’s ready to revoke the suspension of Lok Sabha members if the Congress leader in the House commits that none of their members will bring placards and the leader should extend apologies.

While discussing inflation, Congress; leader Manish Tewari said, Country has double-digit inflation for the last 14 months which is highest in 30 years.”

He said that the consumer food price index is skyrocketing.” GST increased on daily use things like rice, curd, paneer and on pencils and sharpeners, the government is not sparing even children,” he added.

The BJP MP, Nishikant Dubey said, “If we see Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Singapore, everywhere inflation rising and jobs are getting lost. Amid such a situation if the poor are getting two-time meals free of cost then shouldn’t we thank the PM.”

The Rajya Sabha was today adjourned for almost an hour till noon as Shiv Sena members among other Opposition parties protested against the arrest of senior leader Sanjay Raut by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and price rise.

After witnessing two repeated adjournments in both Houses of Parliament over ruckus created by Opposition leaders on various issues, Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Pralhad Joshi expressed their concerns over Parliament not being allowed to function normally.

Addressing the media persons today at the Parliament premises, Piyush Goyal said, “The Central Government was ready from the first day to discuss about inflation. However, the Opposition wasn’t allowing the House (Lok Sabha) to function normally. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had COVID-19. Knowing that she has just recovered, we are appealing to them for the House to function normally.”

Piyush Goyal said that the Opposition is not letting the House run and is running away from discussing other issues.

“We already decided that the issue of price rise will be discussed on Monday in Lok Sabha and on Tuesday in Rajya Sabha. Despite that, the House wasn’t allowed to run. They’re running away from discussing the issue,” he said.

Goyal added, “Either Opposition MPs should express regret about whatever they have done or their leaders should ensure that they won’t bring placards which are against the rules. In that case, the government is ready to move the motion to revoke the suspension of MPs.