AP Assembly Witnesses Uproar Over Special Status

The first day of the Monsoon session of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly today witnessed uproarious scenes as expected, as the Opposition YSR Congress Party members stormed into the Speaker's podium over the special status tag.

The House, which began at 9:30 am, was adjourned twice in the morning when the YSRCP members insisted that a debate be taken up on special status to the State.

Despite Speaker K Siva Prasad Rao's repeated appeals, the YSRCP members did not relent, and made it to the podium disrupting the proceedings.

When the House reassembled in the afternoon after a 15-minute break, the YSRCP legislators yet again disrupted Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's statement on the demand of special status to the State.

There was a slugfest between the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition on the special status issue. The House witnessed chaos on the issue.

Jaganmohan Reddy flayed the Telugu Desam Party, an ally of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, for the continuing ambiguity on the demand which was confusing the people.

The suicides on the special status issue were being caused by Naidu's dispensation, he charged.

At Jagan's behest, the YSRCP members raucously disrupted the proceedings, compelling the Speaker to adjourn the House to Tuesday.

Earlier, Jaganmohan Reddy sought to know why Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had denied the just demand of special status even as the state was trying to convince the Centre that a special package was not acceptable to the parties and people.

This ambiguity on the special status tag was prompting the youth to resort to extreme steps, he said, and attributed them to the failure of the Chief Minister.

"Despite our notice for a resolution for special status to AP through a debate, the House is denying it," he said, and alleged that the House was also reluctant to pass a condolence resolution on former President A P J Abdul Kalam's demise.