TRS-Congress Duel Over Speaker Privileges

Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao and Leader of the Opposition K Jana Reddy indulged in a verbal duel in the Telangana Assembly on Monday after Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary gave the mike to Puvvada Ajay Kumar, who was accused in an illegal land encroachment case in November.

The House saw pandemonium when Congress leaders including Jana Reddy and Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka raised objections on the Speaker giving mike to Kumar, who had switched loyalties to the ruling TRS party from the Opposition Congress and involved in an alleged scam recently.

K T Rama Rao intervened repeatedly and objected to Reddy for questioning the discretionary powers of the Speaker.

The Leader of the Opposition aggressively persued the argument and asked why KTR was frequently interrupting them from speaking in the House.

"Is this a deliberate attempt to stifle the Opposition's voice?" Jana Reddy said, expressing ire at KTR's "interference".

Jana Reddy also said that there was no need for the Opposition to stay in the House when the ruling Party silenced them repeatedly.

Stating that no one can question Speaker's discretionary powers, KTR said that he did not criticize Jana Reddy personally and only cited a few examples of the malefactions of the previous Congress regime.

The Leader of the Opposition requested the Speaker to inform the House the Party on behalf of which Kumar would speak. This prompted the Minister to raise objection and took a dig at the Congress regime’s activities between 2004 and 2014.

"People elected us to power and I did not become a Minister on anyone's recommendation," the Minister argued and said that the Congress was confined to the status of the Opposition by the same mandate.