Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Tuesday tweeted eight opposition MPs, including him, suspended for Sunday’s unprecedented chaos in the Rajya Sabha, were not fighting for tea but for the welfare of the farmers.

“Mr. Modi, we are not fighting for our tea. We are fighting for the welfare of our farmers, which you have taken away. I humbly request you – I am returning your tea with all due respect, please return my farmers’ morsel,” Singh tweeted on Tuesday.

 

He was responding to PM Modi’s praise for Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson Harivansh, who had offered tea to the suspended MPs. Harivansh is at the centre of the entire controversy.

“To personally serve tea to those who attacked and insulted him a few days ago as well as those sitting on dharna shows that Shri Harivansh Ji has been blessed with a humble mind and a big heart. It shows his greatness. I join the people of India in congratulating Harivansh Ji,” the Prime Minister had tweeted earlier.

 

Singh and seven other opposition party MPs were on Monday suspended for a week by Rajya Sabha chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu for ‘heckling’ Harivansh during the passage of two of the three contentious farm bills on Sunday. The suspended MPs staged a sit-in protest throughout the night and on Tuesday morning, refused tea offered by the deputy chairman.

Harivansh, meanwhile, has started a 24-hour fast of his own, which he will observe until Wednesday.