TEHRAN Majlis Speaker Mahdi Karrubi Tuesday urged the lawmakers to express their loyalty to Leader's decree.
Addressing an open session of the Majlis Karrubi said, "The deputies must think it their legal and religious duties to cooperate with others on Leader's decree on the motion for the amendment of the Press Law.
He said the decree was not the first and would not be the last either.
He termed Majlis as a place for debates where different ideas are raised, sometimes well-considered and at times judicious but, however, normal.
Pointing to the tension which disturbed the Sunday session of the Majlis, the speaker said some deputies had reservations on the exclusion of the motion for the amendment of the Press Law and believed that the issue should be temporarily suspended.
"Of course I did not consider such a request to be right," he said.
On Tehran Deputy Ahmad Pournejati's resignation from the chairmanship of the Cultural Commission of the Majlis, Karrubi said that all should realize that Pournejati believed in preservation of calm in the issue and implementation of the Leader's decree.
"We are in need of tranquility in order to perform our duties with confidence. Therefore, there is no need for demonstration as each deed and act should take its legal route," said the speaker.
He stressed that the Majlis follows the path of the Imam, the revolution and the Leader, adding that forces committed to values will perform their duties wholeheartedly, dynamically and firmly.
Of course, he further remarked, Majlis deputies should pay serious attention to the demands and priorities of the people.
Karrubi said that exclusion of the motion on the amendment of the Press Law from the Majlis agenda was not a personal decision but a collective one which was adopted following discussions held by the Presiding Board.
Head of Majlis Planning and Budget Commission, Majid Ansari, said here that moves to weaken the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary would also undermine the authority of the Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Referring to the Leader's order disallowing a scheduled session of Parliament from debating on proposed amendments to the Press Law which led to a brawl at the Parliament, he said: "This incident was natural and the most insignificant.
Such brawls are not uncommon in Majlis which is a natural venue for such clashes." But, he added, several special groups try to make a mountain out of the molehill by capitalizing on the incident to create tension in society; their efforts are doomed.
Ansari criticized the gatherings being held in support of the Leader's order, saying: "Several placards carry insults against the Majlis." He also came out in defense of the Abadan MP, Mohammad Rashidian, who came under heavy fire from conservative MPs on Sunday following his objection to exclusion of the debate on the Press Law from the agenda of the Majlis session.
He noted that on the basis of Article 86 of the Constitution and Note 75 of Majlis governing by-law, an MP who voices out a personal opinion should not be condemned.
In another move, the MP representing Arak (Central Province) praised Majlis members affiliated to the pro-reform Khordad 2 Front for their appropriate behavior amid Sunday's clashes in Majlis.
Ali Nazari, however, regretted the fact that certain local media condemned the behavior taken by certain MPs, saying the effect was to make people believe those MPs opposed the velayat-e faqih (governance by a jurisprudent).
In the meantime, Islamic Propagation Organization (IPO) in an statement voiced its support for the Leader's decree.
The statement reads that presence of Leader in different sensitive times of the history of the Islamic Revolution has been a manifestation of good sequences of velayat-e faqih which guarantees the legality of the Islamic government and preserve national and religious interests of the Islamic nation.