"They deserve suspension...": K Annamalai on mass suspension of Opposition MPs

"Close to 140 MPs have been suspended...They have breached all Parliamentary norms and all democratic values," Annamalai said.

Amid the controversy triggered after Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee was seen mimicking Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi filming the same, the Tamil Nadu BJP President called it a planned approach by the INDIA alliance.

"You have a set of people mimicking the Vice President, demeaning his post. The next day, when the Vice President expresses his remorse, still they go inside and stage a protest. So this is a very planned approach by the INDIA alliance parties to create a lot of problems inside the Parliament. They are all suspended because they deserve a suspension," Annamalai said.

"It is not that the BJP, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, the Chairman of the House or the Speaker of the House have acted arbitrarily. The whole country was watching what was happening inside the Parliament," he added.

Earlier today, three Congress MPs DK Suresh, Deepak Baij and Nakul Nath were suspended from the Lok Sabha taking the total number of members of the Lower House against whom such action has been taken to 100.

This brings the total number of members suspended from both houses of the Parliament to 146.

The three suspensions come after the Lok Sabha on Wednesday suspended two more opposition MPs for showing placards in the House.

Thomas Chazhikadan of the Kerala Congress (Mani) and AM Ariff of the CPI(M) were suspended for misconduct after a resolution moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi was adopted by the House.

Earlier a total of 143 MPs -- 97 from Lok Sabha and 46 from Rajya Sabha were suspended for creating a ruckus and disrupting proceedings in both Houses, while they were demanding a statement from Union Minister Amit Shah about the Parliament security breach incident.

Moreover, the Congress leaders were part of the suspended MPs' march from the Parliament building to Vijay Chowk to protest against the suspension of opposition lawmakers, who were demanding Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement on the December 13 security breach incident.

The security breach happened on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack. Two people--Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D--jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow gas from canisters and shouted anti-establishment slogans before being overpowered by the MPs.

Outside parliament, in another incident, two protestors -- Neelam (42) and Amol (25) -- protested outside the Parliament with similar gas canisters. However, all four, facing charges under the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, were sent to seven-day custody of the Delhi Police Special Cell on December 14, which is set to expire today. Delhi Police is likely to seek further custody of the accused.

Following the Incident, Delhi Police had also arrested two more persons namely Lalit Jha and Mahesh Kumawat in the case. On December 15, a Delhi court sent Lalit Jha to 7-day police custody for his sustained custodial interrogation. (ANI)