The Home Minister, Sabitha Indra Reddy, today made an official statement explaining the lathicharge incident at the Osmania University campus on Sunday. In the Assembly she narrated the sequence of events on that day, and said the police used force only when provoked by students who were getting into spiraling unruly behaviour. The police were only trying to bring the situation under control, she said, even as she mentioned that the students and journalists that were attacked were taken to the hospital for treatment.
At this, TDP leader Nagam Janardhan Reddy went on the offensive. He demanded to know what the police were doing in the campus in the first place, and also accused the Deputy Speaker Nadendla Manohar - who was in the Chair today - of being partial to the Seemandhra region.
Nagam's language against the Chair was condemned by all members of the Assembly.
Later, the House was adjourned for the day - the session will resume tomorrow.
TRS leader Harish Rao remarked that Sabitha Reddy hadn't even gone through the statement before reading it out, and that she was blindly following whatever the police officers had to say.
The Osmania univ campus still has police forces roaming inside. Students took out rallies in protest in front of the police station. The JAC says it they will continue the struggle for separate statehood irrespective of how much blood will flow and how many beatings it will have to take.