Daily News Dose: 19 Rajya Sabha MPs suspended for disrupting proceedings | July 26, 2022

Hello, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Vishnu, and these are the major news stories of the day:

1. 19 Rajya Sabha MPs suspended for disrupting proceedings

2. Sonia Gandhi appears before ED for second round of questioning, Rahul Gandhi detained for protesting

3. No nod for SilverLine survey, land acquisition: Railway Board tells Kerala High Court

4. Actress Assault Case: Dileep's involvement not disclosed as son feared for life, says Pulsar Suni's mother

5. Neeraj Chopra ruled out of Commonwealth Games due to groin injury

Let's get into the details:

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1. Nineteen MPs were suspended from Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, a day after action was taken by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Prakash Birla against four Congress MPs. The 19 Rajya Sabha MPs have been barred for a week to attend the monsoon session of Parliament amid protests by opposition against the government over inflation. Tuesday's Rajya Sabha suspensions set a new record with the highest number of parliamentarians suspended in a single session.

The house was adjourned for an hour today after the suspended opposition MPs did not leave and continued to protest.

Of the suspended MPs, 7 belong to Trinamool Congress, 6 to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, 3 to Telengana Rashtra Samiti, 2 fom Communist Party of India-Marxist and 1 from Comuunist Party of India.

BJP's Piyush Goyal said the decision to suspend the Opposition MPs from Rajya Sabha was taken with a heavy heart. They kept on ignoring the Chairman's appeals, he said. The action against the 19 Rajya Sabha MPs would likely escalate the opposition's fury against the government over what they claim was an attempt to shut voices that question the ruling alliance's economic and social policies. 

Opposition MPs in Rajya Sabha have been demanding an urgent discussion on issues like price rise and goods and services tax, or GST, hike for the past many days, leading to disruptions in the house.

The opposition is demanding that the discussions be held under Rule 267 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha. Under this rule, the issue being raised is taken up by suspending the listed business of the day.

The latest round of suspension comes a day after four Congress MPs in Lok Sabha were dealt with similar action for the entire monsoon session, ending August 12, for holding placards inside the house despite warnings by Speaker Om Birla to act with decorum.

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2. The Enforcement Directorate recorded the statement of Congress President Sonia Gandhi for about 2.5 hours on the second day of her questioning on Tuesday in the money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper.

Sonia Gandhi was questioned for over two hours on July 21. She replied to 28 questions put forth by the agency.

The Lok Sabha MP from Rae Bareli was reportedly asked questions pertaining to her involvement with the National Herald newspaper and the company under scanner in the case, Young Indian Pvt Ltd. 

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi and several party MPs were detained by police at Vijay Chowk on Tuesday after they staged a protest against the questioning of Sonia Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi and the other Congress MPs had gathered at Vijay Chowk to march towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan to draw the President's attention to the alleged misuse of agencies by the government, but were stopped by the police.

Gandhi was put in a police bus but officials did not disclose where he was being taken.

Other Congress MPs at the Vijay Chowk protest site were detained and taken away in separate police buses.

Rahul Gandhi has already appeared before the probe agency for questioning in the same case.

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3. The Railway Board has informed the Kerala High Court that the acquisition of land by the state government for the SilverLine semi high-speed railway project at the present stage was an immature decision. Moreover, the Board told the court that the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd -- the implementing agency of the project – alone would be responsible if it spent funds to carry out a social impact study for SilverLine. 

The High Court was further informed that the Railways had not approved the social impact study and survey being carried out by Kerala Government under the laws related to acquisition of land after paying fair compensation. 

Assistant Solicitor General S Manu had submitted the affidavit on behalf of the Railway Board in response to a petition filed before the court by Muraleekrishnan, a resident of Kottayam, and some others. The petition had questioned the validity of the ongoing survey regarding SilverLine.

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Before we move on, here's a quick reminder to checkout Onmanorama's other podcasts, Wacky News and News Brake. Wacky News is a collection of the weirdest and strangest news from across the globe and News Brake is a clutter-free explainer of the major news story of the week. Both programmes are available on all podcast platforms. 

Now, back to Daily News Dose.

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4. The Crime Branch team probing the actor attack case has filed along with the supplementary charge-sheet the secret statement given by prime accused Pulsar Suni's mother Shobhana, stating the reasons for his son not disclosing the involvement of actor and eighth-accused Dileep just after his arrest.

She said in the secret statement filed under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code that the involvement of Dileep in the crime was disclosed by his son after realising that even his life inside jail as an under-trial was in danger.

Shobhana also handed over a letter given by Suni asking her to submit it to the court in case of any threat to his life inside the jail. The crime occurred on February 17, 2017. Suni was arrested on February 23. Later in 2018, while being produced before the court, Suni handed over the letter to his mother. The case will come up for hearing at the trial court on Wednesday.

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5. The strong Indian contingent for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham suffered a massive setback as star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, fresh from his silver medal-winning performance at the World Athletics Championships in the US, has been ruled out from the quadrennial showpiece due to a groin injury.

As per reports, Indian Olympic Association secretary-general Rajiv Mehta said, Chopra has been advised rest for a month by doctors after an MRI showed an injury in his groin.

Neeraj Chopra was a strong contender for the title at the Commonwealth Games as he had won gold at the 2018 Games at Gold Coast.

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That brings us to the end of this episode. Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.