Protest by BJP MP's in Parliament provocative, rubs salt in wound: Tharoor

Attacking Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the suspension of 12 Opposition MPs, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday said that the protest by the ruling party's MPs in the parliament was like rubbing salt in the wound.

"It was needlessly provocative of the BJP MPs to come here and rub salt in the wound. If anything BJP should have shown that is solidarity. My colleagues were unjustly expelled by a party that has institutionalized disruption," Tharoor told ANI.

BJP MPs staged a protest in Parliament on Friday against the 'unruly' behaviour of the Opposition parties.

On the other hand, Opposition MPs protested against the suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha MPs.

Since the commencement of the winter session of the Parliament on Monday, there have been continuous disruptions in the functioning of both Houses.

In a move that angered the Opposition and set the stage for acrimonious exchanges, a dozen members of Opposition parties in Rajya Sabha were suspended from the winter session on the very first day on Monday following a motion brought in by the government.

The members were suspended for alleged unruly conduct towards the end of the monsoon session in August when marshals were called after Opposition members stormed the Well of the House during the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021.

The suspended members comprise six from the Congress, two each from Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, and one each from CPI and CPM: Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, Ripun Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of Congress; Dola Sen, Shanta Chhetri of Trinamool Congress; Priyanka Chaturvedi, Anil Desai of Shiv Sena; Elamaram Kareem of CPM; and, Binoy Viswam of CPI.

The winter session is likely to conclude on December 23.