Telangana TDP, Congress Boycott Assembly Session

Telangana TDP Working President A Revanth Reddy today urged other Opposition parties to join his Party in boycotting the Telangana government as it allegedly didn't give ample time and space for the Opposition to discuss issues in the State Assembly session.

Speaking to the media, the TDP leader said that the State government and the Assembly Speaker were rushing through the session and shutting the Opposition down. He accused the Speaker of siding with the ruling Party and chiding the Opposition at every turn.

He said that the TDP was trying to raise real issues that plagued Hyderabad and the rest of Telangana, but the TRS would go about the proceedings hastily by simply blaming previous regimes for the status quo. The TRS wouldn't even listen to the TDP's stance on farmers' woes, he said. He pointed out various issues that were supposedly obstructed and rubbished by the ruling Party.

He slammed Legislative Affairs Minister T Harish Rao for the recent temporary suspension of Opposition leaders in the Assembly. Reddy said that the move was against democracy and Constitution, and that the Minister displayed an authoritarian attitude. He claimed that protesting inside the Assembly was a Constitutional right of the people.

Reddy urged the Telangana Congress, the CPI and the BJP to join them in the boycott Assembly movement. The BJP reportedly didn't respond. However the CPI and the Congress joined in and later this morning, abstained from the session.

Expressing his anguish, Minister Harish Rao told the Speaker that boycotting an esteemed institution was a sad state of affairs, and urged the abstaining Opposition leaders to return. He pointed out that the Opposition was given ample time and opportunity to speak, and even Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had agreed, prior to the commencement of the winter session, to extend it to as long as the Opposition needed in order to discuss all concerning issues. He also pointed out that the Opposition was given approximately 52 minutes more than the ruling Party.

The Minister ridiculed the Opposition, but the Speaker urged him not to any further. Harish Rao agreed and settled down, and the session continued.