New Delhi: Congress MPs Ramya Haridas and Jothimani said they were "manhandled" by the marshals inside the parliament and has filed a complaint regarding the same with Speaker Om Birla.
The Congress protests in the Parliament over the Maharashtra government formation took an ugly turn as the party's MPs clashed with marshals in the house.
“It is our duty to raise issues in Parliament. Without even considering that we are women, male marshals were sent to manhandle us,” said Ramya Haridas, MP from Kerala's Alathur constituency.
Congress MP from Tamil Nadu Jothimani also alleged that she was "manhandled".
"It is sad that Ramya Haridas and me were manhandled, we have lodged complaint with the speaker," she told reporters.
"Security personnel manhandled our women parliamentarians. We have never experienced this inside Parliament. We will be waiting to see what action is been taken against responsible people," Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told reporters.
Democracy has been murdered in the state, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said as his party's MPs protested outside the House too.
The BJP, in turn, accused Congress members of bringing "shame" to the Lok Sabha with their "unruly" conduct and rejected the opposition party's claims that its MPs were manhandled.
Chowdhury also said that what he saw in the House was unprecedented and Congress MPs were "pushed around".
"It is a testing time for us. We have to decide whether we let democracy or authoritarianism prevail in this country," he said.
T N Prathapan, Hibi Eden asked for apology
The Congress MPs gathered in front of the Gandhi statue and raised slogans of "Modi government shame shame" and "save our democracy". Party president Sonia Gandhi also joined the protest.
Sources said Speaker Om Birla sought an apology from two Kerala MPs - T N Prathapan and MP Hibi Eden - for storming the Well of the House.
Inside the House, two Congress MPs, including T N Prathapan and Hibi Eden, showed a big banner, and other MPs also put up placards and raised slogans against the Modi government saying "Democracy has been killed in Maharashtra".
The protests were being held even as a hearing over the same was underway in the Supreme Court, where the apex court asked the solicitor general to produce letters of support used by Devendra Fadnavis in staking claim to form the government.
The SC will pronounce the decision on the matter on Tuesday.
In a sudden development on Saturday, Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the Maharashtra Chief Minister and Nationalist Communist Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar as his deputy by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
The Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP, the three other parties, who were planning to form a government, have challenged the government formation and knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS.)
