The liquor scam continued to dominate the budget session of the state Legislative Assembly, on Monday.
The House was adjourned twice for brief periods, and then for the day, following the stalling of proceedings by the Telugu Desam Party, which demanded the dismissal of Prohibition & Excise Minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana.
As soon as the House met on Monday at 9am, TDP members raised slogans expressing dissatisfaction over the state government's reply to the liquor syndicate issue. They demanded another discussion and an immediate dismissal of ministers alleged to have received bribes from the liquor syndicate.
CPI floor leader G Mallesh, too, moved an adjournment motion, seeking a discussion on the ACB's report on the liquor syndicate.
CPI (M) floor leader J Ranga Reddy gave an adjournment motion on NREGS.
Speaker Nadendla Manohar disallowed all the 3 adjournment motions. He said that the TDP members could raise the issue in a different forum, as the House has already debated it for
9 hours on Friday.
Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu also tried in vain to convince the TDP members to resume their seats and allow the House to function. However, the Opposition MLAs continued to create an uproar in the House, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House for half-an-hour.
Similar scenes were noticed when the House re-assembled at 10:25am. On the Speaker's instructions, government whip Dronamraju Srinivas initiated a general discussion on the Budget. However, the TDP MLAs rushed to the Speaker's podium, raising slogans demanding the dismissal of ministers, and a judicial enquiry into the liquor scam.
After 5 minutes of noise, the Speaker adjourned the House again, for half-an-hour.
The House could not take up regular business after it re-assembled again at 12:10pm. The din and uproar continued for about 20 minutes, and finally, Deputy Speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikaramarka adjourned the House for the day. (INN)