The Congress and its allies in the INDIA bloc on Tuesday gave notice to move a motion for the removal of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, accusing him of “blatantly partisan” conduct and repeated denial of speaking opportunities in the House to members, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.The notice under Article 94(c) of the Constitution was submitted to Lok Sabha secretary general Utpal Kumar Singh by Congress deputy leader Gaurav Gogoi, chief whip K Suresh and whip Mohamed Jawed.It carries the signatures of 118 MPs from the Congress, Samajwadi Party, DMK, Left parties, RJD, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP-SP. The TMC has not signed the notice, nor has Rahul, since he is at the centre of one of the four cases the Opposition has made against Birla.Lok Sabha secretariat sources said the discussion on the motion was likely to take place on March 9, the first day of the second part of the Budget session.Birla will not preside over Lok Sabha proceedings until the notice for his removal is disposed of. Top sources said he had decided to step aside from House work on moral grounds.“The Speaker has directed the Lok Sabha secretary general to carefully examine the notice and take appropriate action,” a source said. Finalised at a meeting of INDIA bloc leaders at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday, the notice accuses the Speaker of consistently favouring the Treasury benches and undermining parliamentary conventions.The notice lists instances of alleged bias. It says that on February 2, Rahul was not allowed to complete his speech on the motion of thanks to the President’s address, adding that such denial of opportunity “is not an isolated instance”.It further alleges that on February 3, eight Opposition MPs were “arbitrarily suspended for the entire Budget session” for exercising what the motion describes as their democratic rights.It also refers to an incident on February 4 when, according to the Opposition, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey was allowed to make personal attacks on two former PMs without reprimand. “In spite of our request, no action has been taken against this particular Member of Parliament,” the notice said.Opposition MPs also objected to remarks made by the Speaker on February 5 after the adoption of the motion of thanks, alleging his comments contained “blatantly false allegations” against Congress MPs and were “derogatory in nature”, indicative of “an abuse of constitutional office”.Earlier in the day, Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Gogoi met Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to discuss ways of breaking the logjam that had persisted in the House since February 2. The Congress is learnt to have conveyed that if Rahul was allowed to raise certain issues in the Lok Sabha, including revocation of the suspension of eight Opposition MPs, it would allow discussion on the Union Budget to proceed smoothly.Rijiju, however, said no compromise was reached and the government had not accepted preconditions to run the House. He added that the House would function smoothly after the lunch break. Budget discussions commenced after the Congress submitted the notice against Birla.TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee earlier said the Opposition should first appeal to the Speaker for consideration of its demands and persist with the notice only if this concession was not granted. The Congress, however, went ahead and submitted the notice, with the government unwilling to accept preconditions to resume business.The BJP, meanwhile, came out in support of Birla. Senior leader Sambit Patra said it was time to “impeach Rahul Gandhi”. “Those who have been impeached of their conscience are the ones who want to impeach all the constitutional posts of India,” Patra said.