Opposition MPs meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, urge him to come back to the House

Several opposition leaders met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and urged him to come to the House and assured to maintain the dignity of the Chair. Speaker Om Birla, who is learnt to be upset at the repeated disruptions of the House, did not Chair the proceedings during Question Hour for the second consecutive day on Thursday. Lok Sabha continued to witness disruptions on Thursday and the proceedings were adjourned till 2 pm amid protests by opposition members on the Manipur issue. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said they want the Speaker to come to the House, saying he is “our custodian”. BJP member Rajendra Agrawal, who was in the Chair, told Chowdhury that his message will be conveyed to the Speaker in the right manner.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Congress' Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, NCP's Supriya Sule, RSP's NK Premchandran, BSP's Ritesh Pandey, BJP's Rajendra Agarwal, TMC's Saugata Roy, National Conference's Farooq Abdullah and DMK's Kanimozhi met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and urged him to…

— ANI (@ANI) August 3, 2023

Birla is learnt to be upset at the repeated disruptions in the House and is staying away from the proceedings. Opposition members continued with their protests on the Manipur issue. Some members were in the Well of the House shouting slogans and displaying placards. During Question Hour, two questions and supplementaries were taken up. Agrawal requested the protesting members to go back to their seats and said that Question Hour should be allowed to continue. However, the proceedings were adjourned in less than 20 minutes till 2 pm. With inputs from PTI