NEW DELHI, Feb. 9 -- As tension continues to simmer between the Treasury benches and the Opposition, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has come under fire from the opposition which is considering giving a notice for moving a resolution to remove him from office for disallowing Rahul Gandhi and their other leaders from speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address, as well as for the suspension of eight MPs.

At the same time, Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and some others met Birla on Monday afternoon to work out a solution to end the stalemate, as the House has not been functioning properly ever since the former Congress chief was not allowed to speak on the India-China issue last week. On Monday also, the House was adjourned thrice.

According to sources, as many as 103 MPs, including those from the Congress, DMK and Samajwadi Party, have already signed a notice for moving the resolution, adding a final decision on when to give the notice against the Speaker would be taken on Tuesday.

They added that a notice for the resolution is likely to be given under Article 94-C of the Constitution to the Lok Sabha Secretary General, and over 100 opposition MPs have already signed it. However, the TMC is keen on taking up the SIR issue more vigorously, while the Samajwadi Party wants to highlight the alleged insult of Malwa queen Ahilyabai Holkar.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, however, said that in a parliamentary democracy, the opposition may bring the resolution, but they don't have the numbers.

Rahul Gandhi, alongwith TMC's Abhishek Banerjee, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav and DMK's T R Baalu, met Birla soon after the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day on Monday to thrash out a solution and end the stalemate.

During the talks, the leaders are learnt to have raised various points on why the opposition was protesting in the House. Gandhi also told the Speaker that they were ready for a discussion, provided he was allowed to speak.

During the meeting, which lasted a few minutes, Gandhi and other leaders apprised the Speaker about the issues they wanted to raise in the House.

Sources said Gandhi told the Speaker that he wanted to raise the issue of suspension of eight Congress MPs and other matters relating to Parliament, including the charges made against the women MPs. They urged the Speaker to revoke the suspension of eight MPs to end the stalemate.

The Lok Sabha has not been functioning properly ever since Gandhi was not allowed to speak on February 2. The Rajya Sabha started the discussion on the Union Budget for 2026-27.

Rahul Gandhi said the opposition is quite keen that the discussion happens. He claimed the government was scared of having a discussion on the Budget because of the India-US deal, the way it was done, and its impact on farmers.

"We are very disturbed about this idea that has been floated that members were going to threaten the PM. There is no question of that. The fact is very clear, the prime minister was scared to come to the House, not because of the members but because of what I was saying, and he is still scared because he cannot face the truth," he said.

"He (Modi) should have the courage to come. If somebody has said that he is going to attack the PM, file an FIR, and arrest that person. Why are you not doing that?" Gandhi posed. "The agreement is that we will be allowed to say these points, and then the discussion should happen."

Separately, women Congress MPs have written to Birla over the "unsubstantiated allegations" made by him against them. In the letter by several women MPs, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, they objected to charges made by the speaker.

Meanwhile, the issue of Rahul Gandhi not being allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha found its echo in the Rajya Sabha also which witnessed an uproar and a walkout by the Opposition over the incidents of the Lok Sabha.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, raised the issue as soon as the Question Hour started at 12 noon.

Chairman CP Radhakrishnan allowed Kharge to speak, adding that he should not speak on anything that happened in the other House.

"I am only raising issues concerning the Constitution... Parliament consists of our House and Lok Sabha... and the Constitution recognises these two Houses... We have to run according to procedures and rules..." Kharge said and went ahead to mention the Leader of Opposition in the Lower House is "not being allowed to speak".

Radhakrishnan, however, did not allow him to raise the issue relating to the Lok Sabha and said "nothing that he says will go on record".

The Chairman proceeded with the Question Hour. However, Kharge and other Opposition leaders continued to stand in their seats, demanding to be allowed to speak.

As the Chairman did not relent, Opposition MPs started raising slogans, accusing the ruling BJP of insulting women MPs. MPs of all the INDIA bloc parties were on their feet, except the TMC.

After raising slogans for a while, the Opposition MPs staged a walkout from the House, and the Question Hour continued.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.