The usually neutral Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Tuesday announced that it would boycott the remaining part of the winter session in protest against the government’s refusal to procure paddy from their state even as the Opposition is stepping up the protests over the suspension of 12 MPs from the Rajya Sabha.

The Opposition MPs from the Rajya Sabha will sit on dharna along with their suspended colleagues for the entire day on Wednesday in a show of solidarity with them.

For the second day on Tuesday, the Opposition disrupted proceedings in the Rajya Sabha over the suspension even as their colleagues in the Lok Sabha participated in the debates in the Lower House.

The government is insisting on all 12 MPs individually expressing regret. The 12 MPs are refusing to do so on the premise that the disciplinary action taken against them was not in order.

“They are using brute force to silence the Opposition. It is not just about our suspension. It is about their very attitude towards the Opposition. Even after paying the price for not paying heed to our suggestion that do they not rush through the farm laws, when the time came to repeal them they did the same thing again. Likewise, they bring in amendments at the last minute without giving us time to study the issue; thereby affecting the law-making process as a whole,’’ Elamaram Kareem of the CPM told this newspaper.

While the Congress was not in favour of going for full disruption, it has now deferred to the voice of the rest of the Opposition.
Trinamul is clear that there is no question of ending the protests without the suspensions being revoked.

This, Trinamul MPs, said is the instruction from party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee who has said that as long as the two AITC MPs, Dola Sen, and Shanta Chhetri, are protesting at Gandhi statue, the party will be in full solidarity with them.