Congress’s Rajani Patil suspended from Rajya Sabha for recording House proceedings

Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday suspended Congress MP Rajani Patil for the remainder of the Budget Session for filming House proceedings.

The suspension comes after she tweeted a video from inside the House in which opposition lawmakers were seen protesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Thursday response to the Motion of Thanks.

Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Jagdeep Dhankhar expressed a “serious view” regarding the issue and characterised it as an “unwholesome activity” on her side.

“In public domain yesterday, on Twitter, there was a dissemination of a video relating to the proceedings of this House…Rajani Ashokrao Patil engaged in this unwholesome activity and what has been seen is a matter that must engage our attention,” Dhankhar said.

The Privileges Committee will probe the matter and Patil will remain suspended till the committee submits its report, said Dhankhar, adding that the matter will not be handed over to any outside agency in order to keep Parliament’s sanctity.

“The entire matter will be probed by the Privileges Committee and till we have the benefit of the recommendation of the Privileges Committee for consideration in the House this August, Patil is suspended for the current session,” he said.