New Delhi: Accusing Speaker Om Birla of "blatant partisanship" in the running of the Lok Sabha, a joint opposition barring Trinamool Congress Tuesday submitted a notice for his removal from office, escalating the simmering tensions between the govt and the opposition to a point that raises questions about the future of their working relationship.Birla has decided to stay away from the LS proceedings till the no-confidence resolution is settled. The twin prompt moves reflect a desire to take the moral high ground as well as confidence in NDA's numbers.The notice under Article 94 (c) - signed by 119 MPs - was submitted to the Lok Sabha secretary general by Gaurav Gogoi, K Suresh and Mohammed Jawed Tuesday afternoon, after the presiding officer did not again allow Rahul Gandhi to speak at the start of the proceedings and then at the start of zero hour, which both led to adjournments.Om Birla had objected to Gandhi insisting on citing the unpublished book of Gen M M Naravane to attack the govt.It was suggested that the leader of the opposition’s brief remarks about the opposition’s grievances would be followed by their cooperation to start the stalled discussion on the Budget.The short draft resolution attached to the removal notice for discussion in the House accuses Birla of “openly espousing the version of the ruling party (sic) on all controversial matters”.The anti-BJP camp clinched the fraught move against the Chair within a day of floating it at a meeting that was called to brainstorm on the future course of action in the wake of the govt-Chair’s repeated refusal to allow Gandhi to speak so long as he did not commit not to cite from the memoir of the retired general, which was behind the protests and the logjam. The other complaints include Birla’s observation — made a day after PM Modi’s no-show for his scheduled response to the motion of thanks — that female MPs from Congress posed a threat to the PM which could have resulted in an “unprecedented incident”; suspension of eight opposition MPs; and permission to a BJP MP (Nishikant Dubey) to “make wholly objectionable and personalised attacks” on two former PMs without any reprimand, and the absence of action against him as demanded by the opposition.
Author: Subodh Ghildiyal
Published at: 2026-02-10 21:14:25
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