Congress top brass Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh and leaders of six other opposition parties staged a dharna in Parliament complex for the second day on Wednesday in protest against suspension of its members of Parliament.
Sharad Yadav and K C Tyagi of the Janata Dal-United, Dharmendra Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, Jaya Prakash Narayan Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, P Karunakaran of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, D Raja of the Communist Party of India, and E Ahamed of the Indian Union Muslim League were among other political party leaders who participated in the protests.
The Congress chief vociferously raised slogans along with other protestors denouncing the Narendra Modi dispensation.
"End dictatorship", "Prime Minister break silence" "Where the "1" have gone", "Sushma Swaraj resign", were among the slogans raised by the protestors who also carried black flags.
"We will continue the agitation on Thursday", Sonia told media persons. The Congress leader said she was not aware of any proposal from the government to end the logjam or for revocation of the suspension of the 25 Congress MPs.
Party's chief whip in Lok Sabha Jyotiraditya Scindia said suspended MPs will not seek an apology from Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who, he alleged, had acted "partially" against only Congress Members.
He claimed that some 200 members of the Bharatiya Janata Party had raised placards in the current session itself, but not a single of them was suspended.
"Where is the question of apology? What wrong has been done? Carrying placards has been going on for the past 65 years", he remarked.
Speaking to reporters, SP leader Dharmendra Yadav said, "We were trying to make a statement in the Lok Sabha but we are not allowed to do so. So we walked out of the House".
Yadav said, "Unless we are given the opportunity to speak in the House, we will continue to boycott."
RJD MP Jai Prakash Yadav said suspension of Congress MPs was a black day for democracy.
Threatening to intensify the fight against "The BJP's autocratic rule", the RJD leader said, "We will continue the fight against this (suspension order). We will take the fight to the street."
Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati said suspension of 25 Congress MPs is not right and it should be revoked.
All photographs: ANI
