Union Minister Piyush Goyal had moved a motion to suspend Mr O'Brien for the rest of the Monsoon session.
The Rajya Sabha saw high drama involving Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien today, with the Chairman announcing his suspension for the rest of the Monsoon session and then letting him back into the House less than an hour later.
Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said he had consciously decided not take the sense of House on the motion to suspend Mr O'Brien. He said if he had completed the suspension procedure, the TMC MP would not have managed to return to the Rajya Sabha the same day.
During the proceedings earlier in the day, Mr O'Brien had sought to speak under the pretext of raising a point of order. When the Chairman asked which rule he was wanting to speak on, the TMC leader said 267 -- the rule under which the opposition has been seeking a discussion on the Manipur issue since the start of the Monsoon session on July 20.
The Leader of the House and Union Minister Piyush Goyal then moved a motion to suspend Mr O'Brien for the rest of the Monsoon session, prompting TMC MPs to rush to the well in protest.
Mr Dhankhar said Derek O'Brien has been suspended for the remainder of the Monsoon session, which ends on August 11.
"Leave the house immediately," Mr Dhankhar told the TMC MP at 11.25 am. He then adjourned the Rajya Sabha till noon.
When the House resumed at noon, Mr O'Brien was present. Congress MP Pramod Tiwari sought to raise the issue of the TMC leader's suspension.
Mr Dhankhar responded to this at 12.05 pm and said that if the suspension process had fructified, Mr O'Brien would not have been able to come to the House.
"This is too serious a matter for me to be overruled. After deep, immediate deliberation, I did not take the sense of the House earlier. If I had really fructified the process, Derek O'Brien would have been out of the House. In my wisdom, I thought I must not take it to that conclusion at that point of time," Mr Dhankhar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
"I am yet to conclude on Mr Derek O'Brien," he said.
Piyush Goyal said that this is not first instance of "such behaviour" by Mr O'Brien and said he resorts to "thumping of desks and speaking loudly to the chair".
Mr Goyal said the Chairman had shown magnanimity. "Let us agree to maintain decorum. I think the least that can be expected of Derek O'Brien is that he expresses regret to the chair," the ANI report quoted the minister as saying.
Mr O'Brien has found himself at the receiving end of Mr Dhankhar's ire several times this session. On August 4, the Chairman had referred a complaint against the TMC leader to the Privileges Committee for further examination and investigation.
The complaint, which was submitted by BJP Rajya Sabha MPs Laxmikant Bajpayee and Surendra Singh Nagar, alleged that Mr O'Brien had repeatedly publishing clippings of his statement made in the House on July 20 on his verified personal Twitter handle, despite some parts of it being expunged by the Chairman.
"A Notice under Rule 188 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) was jointly submitted by Dr. Laxmikant Bajpayee and Surendra Singh Nagar against Derek O' Brien... He allegedly amplified the expunged statements through a series of tweets posted continually on daily basis over a week and allegedly insulted the dignity of the Council and authority of the Chair," the Rajya Sabha secretariat said.
On Monday, Mr Dhankhar had accused Derek O'Brien of doing "theatrics" in the House to gain publicity during a heated debate on the Delhi services bill.
Mr Dhankhar's outburst came after the TMC member refused to confine his speech to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and unleashed a litany of allegations against the central government.
The chairman accused the TMC MP of making "engaging in theatrics" a habit, inviting a strong objection from Mr O'Brien, who said he was quoting the rules of the House and demanding a serious discussion on Manipur.
"Your demeanour was ignoble, does not justify the position you hold. You have upset the decorum of the ecosystem....of House. You have done it on purpose," Mr Dhankhar added.