Congress Leader To Go To Court Over Lok Sabha Suspension? What He said

A day after his suspension from the Lower House, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Saturday alleged that there is a deliberate design by the BJP to throttle the opposition's voice by resorting to various unsavoury instruments.

Mr Chowdhury indicated that he may move the Supreme Court against his suspension from the House and said that consultations in this matter were on.

Terming his suspension a "retrogressive step" by the ruling party, he said that he has been placed in a "queer" situation where "I have been hanged and thereafter I will have to face the trial".

Asked about the suspension of four opposition MPs, including himself, Mr Chowdhury said it is a new phenomenon.

"There is a deliberate design by the ruling party to throttle the voice of the opposition by resorting to various unsavoury instruments which should not be applied to me," he said at a press conference.

"But with all respect to the chair of the House, I must say that I cannot contradict the direction of the chair. But if I find that this kind of situation could be resolved by court, I may try also to it," said the Congress MP from West Bengal's Baharampur constituency.

He said consultations are on about whether to move the Supreme Court or not. "I may move the court soon," Mr Chowdhury said.

He said, "Very steadfastly and with all humility at my command, I can say that I did not have even a remote objective to disparage or tarnish anyone whosoever in Parliament."

"Modi ji speaks on everything but on Manipur issue, he is sitting 'nirav' which means silent. 'Nirav' means silent. My intention was not to insult PM Modi," he asserted.

If anything is unparliamentary, the Speaker has the right to delete or expunge it, the Congress leader said.

"But, I do not know why for one or two words, which were misconstrued by them as offensive, the BJP may have protested to the Speaker as per the rules and got those words expunged," he said.

"Naturally, it is a queer, very precarious. Retrogressive steps are being taken by the government. These kinds of retrogressive steps will certainly undermine the spirit of Parliamentary democracy," Mr Chowdhury said.

Mr Chowdhury was suspended from the Lok Sabha on Thursday for "repeated misconduct" pending an investigation by the privileges committee.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved a resolution for Mr Chowdhury's suspension, saying he disturbed the House whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ministers spoke or a debate was going on. The resolution was passed by a voice vote.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)