Suspend obstructing members till end of Parliament session: Athawale

Rajya Sabha MP Ramdas Athawale today demanded that all those not allowing Parliament to function smoothly should be suspended till the end of the session.

His comments come on a day when Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 25 Congress MPs for five days for "persistently, wilfully obstructing" the House.

"All those MPs who are not allowing Parliament to function smoothly should be suspended till the current session ends and they should also not be given their allowance. Merely suspending them for five days will not work. It is unfortunate that they (the opposition) are not even ready for a debate before asking for the resignation of ministers," Athawale, president of RPI(A) told reporters here.

Mahajan 'named' (identifying for action) the 25 Congress members who were carrying placards and shouting slogans in the Well while demanding resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje over Lalit Modi row and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over Vyapam scam.

Athawale further said the Republican Party of India - Athawale RPI (A) will hold an equality programme on August 11 at Delhi on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and that BJP President Amit Shah has been invited to inaugurate the event.

"We have also invited Nitin Gadkari, Ramvilas Paswan, Anant Geete, Thawar Chand Gehlot and Kiren Rijiju for the event. Since it is Dr Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary, the RPI (A) will be holding 125 programmes across the country in the coming year," he said.

Athawale further said he has not been made a part of the 19-member national committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to commemorate Ambedkar's anniversary throughout the year because he was "busy".

However, he added that he was not busy enough to accept a ministerial berth at the Centre.

"I had not taken a bungalow in Delhi before, in the hope that I would be getting the ministerial berth that I was promised. Now, others have taken bungalows. I have written a letter to PM Modi in this regard," Athawale said.