All YSRCP MLAs Suspended From AP Assembly

All the 58 members of the YSR Congress Party, the only Opposition party in the AP State Assembly, were suspended en masse on Friday for stalling the proceedings in the House for the second consecutive day over the call money sex racket.

YSRCP president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy had to face the wrath of Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao for not heeding to his repeated entreaties to refrain from disrupting the proceedings and to facilitate the House debating the 125th birth celebrations of Baba Saheb Ambedkar to be held on April 14 next year all over the country.

With the YSRCP members sticking to their guns in wanting a discussion on the call money sex racket first and creating a bedlam near the Speaker's podium raising slogans against Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, the Speaker, who had earlier adjourned the House for a brief period, took the unprecedented step of suspending all of the only Opposition party's members in the Assembly.

This enables the ruling TDP to overcome the YSRCP's efforts to stall the House proceedings until the ruling Party yielded.

It was no surprise that the House witnessed the stalling drama for the second day. Trouble erupted immediately after the Speaker disallowed an adjournment motion tabled by the YSRCP again on the raging call money racket. Even as his Party members stormed into the well of the House, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy reiterated his charges against the Chief Minister and others of having links with the racketeers and alleged that the government was trying to derail a discussion on the issue to protect the bigwigs of the TDP.

Legislative Affairs Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu repeatedly asserted that the TDP government was prepared for a debate on the issue after the Chief Minister made a statement soon after the debate on Dr Ambedkar's birth anniversary celebrations was completed. However, Jagan insisted that the call money racket issue be debated first.

The Speaker pointed out that the debate on the Ambedkar Jayanthi celebrations had already commenced on Thursday and hence it should be completed today. Thereafter the House could debate the call money racket based on the CM's statement on the issue. This was stoutly opposed by the YSRCP members, who continued to protest near the Speaker's podium leading to a brief adjournment.

When the high tension drama continued in the House after it reassembled, the Finance Minister named all the YSRCP members and wanted them to be suspended till the House completed its debate on the Ambedkar Jayanthi celebrations. Thereupon, the Speaker suspended the YSRCP members en masse.

Led by Jagan, all the suspended YSRCP members squatted at the foot of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside the Assembly premises. The Leader of the Opposition lambasted the Chief Minister and the ruling Party members for shielding those were involved in the racket. He also alleged that Chief Minister's son Lokesh was also involved in the racket.

All said and done, Jagan's plan to hijack the Assembly proceedings to remain in the limelight seems to have boomeranged, thanks to the unprecedented action of the Speaker, and the ruling TDP appears to have had the last laugh.