Congress to protest against suspension of its MPs

The Congress on Monday said it would protest in parliament against the decision of Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to suspend 25 Congress parliamentarians for five days for "willfully obstructing the business of the house".

The Congress claimed that the protest from Tuesday will be supported by Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Aam Aadmi Party, Left and other like-minded parties.

"Democracy has been killed today (Monday). If they feel that the Congress is isolated, it's their mistake. In fact, the premeditated move of the government has united the opposition. We have got support from the TMC, AAP, Left and NCP. Our leaders are reaching out to other like-minded parties," Congress spokesperson Gourav Gogoi told IANS.

Gogoi was among the suspended parliamentarians.

"We will protest against the decision in parliament on Tuesday. The form of our protest will be decided by our senior leaders," he added.

Gogoi also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the suspension of the Congress MPs.

"This is Gujarat model of Modi, where he used to suppress the opposition's voice," the Congress leader said.

The suspension of Congress parliamentarians was also denounced by Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay who warned that the house won't run "if the government does not want to hear the opposition".

"For the greater interest of parliamentary democracy, we are opposed to the suspension of 25 Lok Sabha MPs. We are not attending the Lok Sabha from tomorrow (Tuesday)," he said.

AAP's Bhagwant Mann said, "The opposition needs to be united; for that, we are with the Congress."

"The opposition is raising issues for many days, but the government has closed its eyes and ears. All of a sudden, it was decided today to suspend the MPs. We condemn it. The AAP will also boycott the house for five days in support of the suspended parliamentarians," Mann said.