All BJP Members Suspended From Telangana Assembly

All the five BJP members in the Telangana Legislative Assembly were suspended for two days for disrupting the proceedings and creating a ruckus in the well of the House today.

The BJP MLAs, including the party's floor leader G Kishan Reddy and State Party President K Laxman, came to the House sporting black "kanduvas" as a mark of protest against the state government's move to introduce a Bill for providing reservations for Muslims, and started raising slogans right from the beginning of the session.

Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary appealed to the protesting members that they maintain order in the House, and allow the Question Hour to be taken up first and raise the issue after that. However, the BJP members continued their sloganeering and preventing the proceedings.

Legislative Affairs Minister T Harish Rao pointed out that it was a practice in the House to take up the Question Hour first and that the members could raise any issue after that. He also claimed that the BJP members had come determined to be suspended so that they could take part in the dharna outside.

As the bedlam in the House continued, he moved a motion for the suspension of all the five members, which was adopted.

The Speaker then named the five members and suspended them for the rest of the week (i. e. two days) and advised them to leave the House.

Leader Of Opposition K Jana Reddy took strong objection against the action of the Chair in not allowing the members to express their views. Reddy said that the government could not throttle the voice of the opposition in such a dictatorial manner, and as a protest led all his Congress members to stage a walkout.