Assembly Adjourned Over T

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, on Monday, cited legal hurdles as the reason for not implementing promises that the state government had made to Telangana employees to get them to end the 42-day Sakala Janula Samme (the Telangana general strike).

Speaking on the issue in the state Legislative Assembly, the Chief Minister said that the state government was unable to pay salaries to the employees for the strike period due to the "No Work No Pay" rule as per the GO 177 that was issued much before the strike began.

He said that the Andhra Pradesh High Court prevented the state government from giving Telangana employees leeway from the order.

However, he assured the House that the state government would approach the court in the next 2-3 days to find a solution to the problem.

Earlier, moving an adjournment motion on the issue, BJP MLAs E Lakshmi Narayana and G Kishan Reddy demanded a discussion on the non-implementation of promises made to the Telangana employees.

With placards, BJP MLAs shouted slogans in the House, while stalling the proceedings. Following the uproar, Speaker Nadendla Manohar adjourned the House for half-an-hour.

However, the BJP MLAs continued their protest when the House re-assembled. This time, TDP members, too, joined in and demanded a discussion on the subject.

On the Speaker's instructions, the Chief Minister made a statement expressing the inability of the state government to pay salaries to the Telangana employees for the strike period.

After the Chief Minister's statement, the TDP and BJP members, too, wanted to speak on the issue. However, the Speaker did not permit them, and amidst the din, again adjourned the House for 15 minutes.

Order could not be restored when the House met again at around 11:20 am. Following an uproar by TDP and BJP members, the Speaker adjourned the House for the day. (INN)