The third day of Telangana's ongoing Budget session was a heated one with the leaders of the Congress demanding more time to discuss various developmental matters. As a result, the Assembly witnessed a bitter argument between the treasury benches and the leaders of the Opposition.
It all started when Congress leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, sought more time to speak on issues pertaining to the farmers in the state and the development programs to be undertaken.
Vikramarka expressed his surprise at Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for not allowing the Opposition to bring up the issues affecting the people of Telangana, and repeatedly asked for more time to discuss the same. An irked KCR finally retorted by censuring the Congress leader for his "disruptive" attitude and remarks.
The rebuke reportedly had little impact on Vikramarka and his fellow party members who continued to voice insistent pleas for more time. This led Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy to lose his cool.
"The Opposition leaders are continuously articulating their displeasure against me over the issue of time allocation. Why are they targeting me in this manner?" he asked.
Finance Minister T Harish Rao also criticised Vikramarka and other Congress leaders, including Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, for "cornering" the Speaker, and demanded that they tender an apology for their behaviour.
"Mallu Vikramarka has used 15 extra minutes over and above the ten minutes given to him to speak on the motion of giving thanks to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan for her opening speech," the minister said.
"Besides using extra time, the leader of the Opposition is disrupting the proceedings of the house. The members of the Assembly must all let each other speak. And, since everyone in the house is to get time to speak, one leader cannot continually badger the Speaker for infinite extra time. This is wrong. It shows that the Congress is just trying to hinder the session. I urge them to maintain decorum, and to refrain from attacking the Chair," Rao added.
He also assured Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy that the latter need not feel any pressure to allot extra time in the face of the demands of such leaders.
The Congress leaders have been restive ever since the Governor made her address to the Telangana legislature, and have even accused the TRS government of making
a mockery of the Budget proceedings, using its "brute" majority in the Assembly.