The Telangana Assembly created history of sorts on Tuesday by expelling two Congress members for their "dastardly act" during the Governor's address to the joint session of the state legislature on the opening day of the budget session on Monday that resulted
in a serious eye injury to Council Chairman Swamy Goud.
The two Congress members expelled - and thus disqualified as MLAs - were Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Sampath Kumar.
What is more, as many as 11 Congress members including the Leader Of Opposition K Jana Reddy were suspended for the entire session of the House.
The other Congress members suspended were T Jeevan Reddy, Uttam Kumar Reddy, C Chinna Reddy, Mallu Batti Vikramarka, Rammohan Reddy, Vamsidhar Reddy, Madhava Reddy, J Geetha Reddy, D K Aruna and Padmavathi Reddy.
The "unruly incident" that unfolded during the joint session of the legislature also had its impact in the Legislative Council today with six Congress members including the Leader Of Opposition Mohammed Shabbir Ali being suspended for the entire budget session.
The other Congress members suspended include Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, Damodar Reddy, Santosh, Akula Lalitha and Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy.
The Council's action was announced by Deputy Chairman N Vidyasagara Rao.
As soon as the Assembly assembled for the second day of the budget session today, Speaker Madhusudhana Chary recalled the "unruly drama" that was witnessed in the House and described it as not only unfortunate but unpardonable. Expressing deep anguish and concern over the incident, he described it as a "black day" in the history of the House.
He said that during the BAC meeting, the floor leaders of the various parties had condemned the incident and had advised him to take appropriate action, and that he went through the proceedings and the CCTV footage in detail. Castigating the Congress members for belittling the democratic values and the dignity of the House with their "violent behaviour", he observed that such acts could not be pardoned.
Minister for Legislature Affairs T Harish Rao then moved a motion for the suspension of 11 Congress members for the entire session, which was adopted amidst protests from the Congress members. He then moved another resolution after quoting Parliament procedures and rules for the expulsion of the two Congress members, which was adopted by the House.
The Speaker then repeatedly advised the Congress members to leave the House. After the protesting Congress MLAs left the House, the regular business as per the agenda was taken up.