New Delhi [India], February 3 : After the Lok Sabha adjourned amid huge chaos over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attempting to invoke former Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane's memoir, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Krishna Prasad Tenneti on Tuesday termed the conduct of the opposition members as "objectionable", saying the dignity of the Chair and the House must be respected at all times.
Speaking to ANI, he said that while he was presiding over the House, an opposition member addressed the Chair as "yaar", which he described as inappropriate for a parliamentary setting. He further alleged that the situation escalated when some Opposition members approached the Speaker's table, tore papers, and threw them, calling the behaviour unacceptable.
"When I was in the chair, somebody from the opposition was calling the chair 'yaar', which is objectionable in any House of Representatives. I pointed that out. The response I received was: 'What is wrong with saying 'yaar'?' In continuation of that, some of them came to the table and started tearing papers and throwing, which is again objectionable. This is not the behaviour one is expected to exhibit in the House of Parliament," Tenneti said.
Referring to the Speaker's ruling issued the previous day, the TDP MP stressed that parliamentary procedures must be strictly adhered to.
"Once the rule has been given by the Speaker yesterday, that should be followed. That was what I was requesting today -- let us respect it and follow it," he said.
Meanwhile, eight opposition members have been suspended from Lok Sabha for the remainder of the budget session for violating rules and "throwing papers on the chair" following uproar in the House over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's insistence on mentioning a specific reference about the standoff with China in eastern Ladakh in 2020.
The House, which witnessed two adjournments earlier in the day, resumed proceedings at 3 pm, and Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of the Opposition, said that he would not refer to any magazine article about former Army Chief Gen MM Naravane's memoirs but would make comments about Chinese action during the Kailash Range standoff with China and the government's response.
The government has said that Rahul Gandhi cannot quote from an unpublished memoir or a magazine article based on it.
The opposition MPs who have been suspended for the remainder of the session are Congress members Hibi Eden, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Prashant Yadaorao Padole, Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy and Dean Kuriakose and CPI-M member S Venkatesan.