Assembly, Council remain paralysed over T-Bill

Hyderabad, Dec 17 : The Andhra Pradesh State Legislative Assembly and Council could not carry out any business on Tuesday following ruckus over Telangana Bill.

As soon as the House met on Tuesday at 9 AM, the Seemandhra MLAs of YSRCP and TDP surrounded the podium of Speaker Nadendla Manohar raising slogans of ‘Jai Samaikhyandhra’. The TRS members countered them by raising ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans by standing at their respective places. However, the situation turned tense when TRS Deputy floor leader T Harish Rao snatched away a placard held by a YSRCP member. This led to jostling and heckling near the podium.

Amidst the furore, the Speaker announced that three adjournment motion notices moved by the YSRCP, TDP and CPI (M) have were being disallowed. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Leader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu were present in the House.

About three minutes after the session began, the Speaker adjourned the House till the conduct of Business Advisory Committee meeting.

The House reassembled only at 3.20 AM. Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy tabled AP Physical Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill, 2013, and about a minute later, the Speaker adjourned the House till Wednesday.

Similar scenes were witnessed in the Legislative Council with members of both Seemandhra and Telangana region resorting to slogan shouting in favour and against Telangana. Following pandemonium, Council Chairman Dr A Chakrapani adjourned the House for a brief period to conduct the BAC meeting.

However, the Council’s BAC meeting, which lasted for almost three hours, remained inconclusive on debate over Telangana Bill. Congress MLC Yadav Reddy and the Finance Minister reportedly had an argument over the issue after the latter suggested that the listed agenda be discussed in the council and a special session could be convened from December 29 to debate Telangana Bill. However, Yadav Reddy insisted that the House first debate the Telangana Bill by setting aside the regular agenda.

After the BAC meet, the Council met again only to be adjourned till Wednesday. INN