TMC MP SANTANU SEN SUSPENDED

MP Santunu Sen was suspended after a motion moved by the govt was approved by the Rajya Sabha

NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress MP Santanu Sen was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the remaining period of the Monsoon Session on Friday after a motion was passed by the House after he snatched the statement on the Pegasus row from IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in the House a day earlier.

NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Santanu Sen was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the remaining period of the monsoon session on Friday after a motion moved by the government was passed by the House.

Soon after the obituary references and laying of papers, minister of state for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan moved a motion for Sen’s suspension after the TMC member snatched papers from information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and tore those in the House on Thursday.

The motion was passed by a voice vote and chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked Sen to leave the House.

“The motion is approved...Dr Santanu Sen stands suspended for the remaining part of the session,” the chairman announced soon after the motion was passed. “Santanu Sen, you have to withdraw from the house,” he said.

Earlier, while moving the motion, Muraleedharan said, “I move that Dr Santanu Sen, AITC, be suspended from the services of the house for the remaining part of the current session for his unruly behaviour, unbecoming of a member of the Rajya Sabha yesterday July 22, 2021, by snatching the copy of the statement from the minister of railways, minister of communications and minister for electronics and information Technology, tearing and throwing it towards the chair, thereby bringing disrepute to this august house.”

The Trinamool Congress members protested with Sukhendu Sekhar Ray raising objection to the manner in which the motion was brought without listing it in the day’s business.

“The motion is not part of the list of the business. We did not have any opportunity to react on that. We were quite unaware on whether the government is moving such a motion. It was not included in the list,” he said.

Other TMC MPs raised the issue of Sen being allegedly threatened by a minister, but the chairman said it happened after the House was adjourned.

“What is happening in the house in the presence of the chair that is taken note by me. Subsequently what has happened, it has not been brought to my notice,” Naidu said when TMC’s Derek O’Brien sought to raise the issue.

As the TMC members created an uproar and others also joined them seeking a discussion on the Pegasus snooping row, the chairman adjourned the house till 12 noon.

On Thursday, as the Union communications and information technology minister was addressing the Rajya Sabha on allegations of illegal spying on activists, politicians and journalists by the central government, when TMC’s Shantanu Sen snatched the papers off Vaishnaw’s hands, tore them and flung them into the air.

A heated exchange was also seen between Sen and Union minister Hardeep Puri.

The TMC alleged that Puri abused Sen and complained to the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman. Sen said he was gheraoed and threatened.