The curtain has been finally brought down on the reference of disorderly conduct of 32 parliamentarians to the Privileges Committee of the Lok Sabha.
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, through an order issued on Tuesday, has withdrawn from the Committee the references relating to 31 opposition National Democratic Alliance Members of Parliament, for their disorderly conduct in the House on April 24.
Chatterjee, through another order, withdrew a similar reference relating to Bahujan Samaj Party Member of Parliament Brajesh Pathak, for disturbing the House on the same day.
The Speaker had referred the issues to the Committee headed by senior Congress member V Kishorechandra Deo on April 30.
The move resulted in NDA MPs lodging a novel protest by keeping their fingers on their lips when the House met on May 5.
The crisis blew over the same day when Chatterjee decided to withdraw the move after an all-party meeting, before which the treasury and the opposition sides assured the Chair full cooperation in conducting the House.
"I have decided to reconsider the matter and I shall withdraw the same," Chatterjee announced, bringing down the curtain on the six-day-old controversy that followed his unprecedented action.
The withdrawal followed both Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee and Leader of the Opposition L K Advani assuring the Speaker of full cooperation in smooth running of the House.
