10 TDP MLAs Suspended From Telangana Assembly

Ten MLAs of the Telugu Desam Party were suspended for one day on Friday from the Telangana Legislative Assembly as they stalled the proceedings of the House demanding the sacking of Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy for his reported remarks that a majority of suicides by farmers were not genuine.

As soon as the House met on Friday, the TDP and BJP members rushed into the well by holding placards demanding the minister's dismissal. Later, they were joined by the Congress MLAs who were pressing for the acceptance of their adjournment motions on the farmers' suicides and the energy crisis.

Speaker S Madhusudana Chary's repeated appeals asking the Opposition to cooperate in taking up the Question Hour went in vain. With no signs of restoration of order, he adjourned the House for 10 minutes while Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was answering the first question.

Similar scenes were witnessed when the House re-assembled. The TDP leaders insisted that the minister be sacked first before taking up any other business in the House. This stalemate led to another brief adjournment.

The TDP MLAs continued their protest when the House met again after the two adjournments. Legislative Affairs Minister T Harish Rao accused the TDP MLAs of deliberately obstructing the House. He reminded that all parties had agreed to have a trouble-free Question Hour.

Meanwhile, MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi charged some members of enacting dramas in the House instead of participating in the discussion.

Having failed to convince the TDP MLAs to end their protest, the Speaker directed Harish Rao to move a motion for suspension of 10 TDP MLAs for a day. Consequently, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, A Revanth Reddy, M Kishan Reddy, G Sayanna, S Venkata Veeraiah, T Prakash Goud, A Gandhi, M Krishna Rao, M Gopinath and Rajender Reddy were suspended for one day. They were later evicted from the House by marshals.

Speaking after the eviction of the TDP MLAs, Harish Rao alleged that the TDP members were afraid that a debate on the energy crisis would expose the role of their Party's government in Andhra Pradesh in denying Telangana its rightful share of the power produced.

However, Leader of the Opposition K Jana Reddy objected to the reported remarks made by Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and condemned the suspension of the TDP MLAs. He also expressed regret over Akbaruddin Owaisi's accusation that some MLAs were enacting dramas.

Responding to Jana Reddy's objection, the MIM floor leader defended his stand, and said that it was wrong to stall the proceedings of the House. He said that one question during the Question Hour was related to farmers and another was on scholarships for minority community students.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister reiterated that the government was ready to discuss all the issues. However, the Opposition members should raise them in a proper form, he said. He condemned the TDP MLAs for wasting almost two hours of the House. (INN)