Nine Seemandhra MPs suspended from Lok Sabha

As many as nine MPs from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions were suspended for the rest of the monsoon session for disrupting the proceedings of Lok Sabha here on Monday.

The suspended MPs include A Sai Pratap, Anantha Venkatrami Reddy, Lagadapati Rajagopal, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy and K Bapi Raju of Congress party and Nimmala Kristappa, M Venugopal Reddy, KN Rao and N Sivaprasad of Telugu Desam Party.

As soon as the House met on Monday, the TDP members rushed to the well in protest against the Centre's proposal to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh. A few moments later, they were joined by the Congress MPs who were raising slogans of "Jai Samaikhyandhra" and "We want justice". TDP MP Sivaprasad wore a mask of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to convey that she was against the division of Andhra Pradesh. However, he removed the mask when some Congress MPs raised objection to it.

The MPs ignored Speaker Meira Kumar's repeated appeals to resume seats to allow smooth functioning of the House. With the Seemandhra MPs showing no signs of restoring normalcy in the House, the Speaker suspended them under Rule 374 (A) for the rest of the monsoon session which concludes on Friday.

The House was then adjourned till 2 PM.

It may be mentioned that on August 23 too nine MPs from the Seemandhra region were suspended for five days for stalling the proceedings of the House.