Speaker cracks the whip, names 32 'unruly' MPs

New Delhi: Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee has had enough with "unruly" MPs who disrupt House.

Chatterjee’s suggestion of introducing a “no-work, no-pay” plan for MPs has been rejected by political parties and he seems to have decided to act tough.

Chatterjee on Thursday sent the names of 32 MPs to the privileges committee of Parliament for disorderly conduct in the House. All the MPs belong to Opposition parties. This is for the first time that Chatterjee has taken such a serious view of unruly scenes in the House.

Chatterjee’s pleas to MPs to behave are often ignored and the last straw for him seems to be the protest against inflation on April 24 when National Democratic Alliance (NDA) lawmakers formed a human chain outside Parliament and then disrupted both the Houses.

He sent the list of names to the privileges committee after disruptions during the Zero Hour on Wednesday prompted him to observe that it has turned into a "torture hour". At one point, he told shouting Samajwadi Party members that they cannot threaten the Chair.

BJP MPs Shahnawaz Hussain, P S Gadhavi, M A Kharabela Swain, Kishan Singh Sangwan and Kiran Maheswari are among the lawmakers whose names have been referred to the privileges committee for "examination, investigation and report"

The list also include Chandrakant Khaire, Kalpana Ramesh Narhire (both Shiv Sena), Rattan Singh Ajnala and Sukhdeo Singh Libra (both SAD) as also Tathagatha Satpathy (BJD) and Brajesh Pathak (BSP).

Others whose cases have been referred to the committee are Mahavir Bhagora, Ashok Pradhan, Nand Kumar Sai, Shrichand Kriplani, Vijayendra Pal Singh, Ganesh Singh, Faggan Singh Kulaste, Bhanwar Singh Dangawas, Virendra Kumar, Ram Singh Kaswan, Subhash Maharia, Sushila Laxman Bangaru, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ramswaroop Koli, Sukdeo Paswan, Ramakrishna Kusmaria, Karuna Shukla and Nandkumar Singh Chauhan (all BJP).

Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, Paramjit Kaur Gulshan (both SAD) and P P Koya (JD-U).

Chatterjee on Monday made a strong plea for introducing a “no work, no pay” concept for parliamentarians. Upset over the disruption of proceedings by the NDA, he had said: “That is why I say please agree to ‘no work, no