BRS MLA Jagadish Reddy Suspended From Assembly

Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar today issued orders suspending BRS MLA Jagadish Reddy from the Assembly until the end of the budget session.

Legislative Affairs Minister Sridhar Babu moved a motion in the Assembly to suspend Reddy, which was subsequently approved.

The Speaker ordered the MLA to leave the House immediately.

Initially, an intense confrontation erupted between members of the ruling and the opposition parties during the session, during discussions on the motion to express gratitude for the Governor's speech.

The debate took a chaotic turn when remarks made by Jagadish Reddy sparked controversy within the House.

Reddy claimed the Governor's address contained "360 lies in 36 minutes", and asked how the Governor felt delivering such remarks. He also asked why the government seemed hesitant to address issues affecting farmers.

Congress MLAs then interrupted with slogans directed at the BRS, prompting an emphatic response from Reddy asking them to refrain from shouting and remain silent.

Minister Sridhar Babu responded saying that the ruling party members had merely pointed out the failures of the BRS, and asked what was wrong with that. He added that while the previous government had failed to achieve results in ten years, the Congress government had already shown progress within a year.

At this point, the Speaker intervened and advised Reddy to speak only on the topics mentioned in the Governor's speech. He also urged the BRS members to remain patient and uphold Assembly traditions, warning against violations of the House decorum.

Jagadish Reddy reportedly expressed strong discontent with the Speaker's comments. He asked whether the Speaker "owned" the Assembly. "This House doesn't belong just to you. You are there on all our behalves as our representative," he reportedly said, and demanded clarity on what exactly constituted a breach of Assembly traditions.

As the argument escalated, ruling and opposition MLAs clashed over Reddy's remarks, with the Congress MLAs spinning it as an insult to a dalit (the Speaker is a dalit), and demanding an immediate apology from him.

In response, Jagadish Reddy said that he would speak only after getting a clarification from the Speaker on the latter's powers and the members' rights. With the situation turning chaotic, the Speaker adjourned the session for 15 minutes.

After the session resumed, Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka, ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy, Sridhar Babu and Seethakka, and other Congress MLAs condemned Jagadish Reddy's remarks and urged the Speaker to take stringent action.

Taking everyone's opinions into consideration, Speaker Kumar announced that Jagadish Reddy would be suspended from the House until the end of the ongoing Assembly budget session, March 27.

BRS members strongly objected to the suspension and condemned the government's "unilateral" decision.