NEW DELHI: The government is likely to press for termination of Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi ’s membership of Lok Sabha and sources said the suspension of the seven members would not be negotiable even to reach an agreement to run the House smoothly.

“The Speaker has accepted a request by the government to set up a committee to investigate continuous indiscipline by Congress members and the snatching of papers by a party MP,” parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said, adding the membership of the MP (Gogoi) who snatched papers from the Speaker’s table must be terminated.

“The snatching of papers is (of) utmost disrespect to the chair. We condemn this. This is unprecedented and has never happened in the history of Parliament,” Joshi said.

Meanwhile, BJP welcomed the decision to suspend the seven Congress Lok Sabha members for the rest of the session. Party general secretary Bhupendra Yadav said the conduct of the MPs was shameful and they should be handed the maximum penalty for violating the chair’s authority.

“Seven MPs have been suspended for tearing papers from the table of the Speaker, which is an unprecedented incident. The behaviour of the Congress MPs is not only shameful but has shamed the parliamentary system,” Yadav said. He said disagreements, debate and discussions were part of parliamentary democracy and there were occasions when members indulged in heated exchanges. “However, tearing papers from the Speaker’s table is an insult to the Speaker’s authority,” he added.

Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said the behaviour of the Congress MPs was “unprecedented” and it would have shocked the country’s founding fathers.

