Legislators belonging to TRS, BJP, CPI and TDP, from Telangana, staged a sit-in in the Assembly on Thursday protesting against Speaker N Manohar’s decision to adjourn the House till Jan 3 ahead of the schedule without discussing the draft AP Reorganisation Bill-2013.
After more than seven hours of protest, the members were arrested and forcefully evacuated from the House by security personnel and marshals.
Earlier, as soon as the Speaker announced the adjournment of the Assembly, the members of the these parties came to the media point and announced that they would go on a sit-in in the House till a discussion is held on the T-Bill.
They alleged that the Speaker had deliberately adjourned the House to prevent debate.
At first, the TDP members staged a protest in front of chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s chambers for a while. Later, they went into the House and continued their dharna. Soon after that, TRS, CPI and BJP members too joined them.
TRS floor leader E Rajender alleged the Speaker had joined hands with Kiran Reddy and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu to adjourn the House without debate.
Party MLA Harish Rao alleged the Speaker under pressure from chief minister and Seemandhra members had adjourned the House. “The Seemandhra members were blackmailing the Speaker and forcing him not allow discussion on the T-Bill. Even Leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu was provoking his party members to stall the proceedings so that no discussion takes place,” he alleged. His colleague KT Ramarao said they would bring this injustice to the notice of President Pranab Mukherjee and Governor ESL Narasimhan. “As there is no government in the state, we have decided to approach the Governor so that justice is done to the people of Telangana,” he said.
Accussing Kiran Reddy and Naidu of colluding and stalling the House, he said both the leaders were working in coordination to stop the T-Bill.
TDP leader E Dayakar Rao termed the Speaker’s action “unconstitutional” and alleged that the Speaker was showing disregard for a Bill sent by the President for the Assembly’s opinion.
He pointed out that as per the schedule announced earlier, the session should have continued till Friday.
“We have asked the Speaker to continue the session till the end of this month so that the discussion is over ahead of time and the Bill could be sent to Parliament at the earliest,” he said.
BJP MLA Yannam Srinivasa Reddy said the Seemandhra leaders wanted to debate the Bill clause-wise so that the bifurcation issue is sidelined. Criticising the attitude of the Speaker, he said the Speaker was taking unilateral decisions and violating all rules to favour members of Seemandhra.
Earlier, the adjournment till January 3 followed after Kiran Reddy made a statement in the state Legislative Council stressing the need for conducting the debate in a harmonious atmosphere.
The chief minister suggested that the Speaker and Council Chairman A Chakrapani may come out with a schedule for the debate.
The Bill could not be taken up for debate for the last four days due to protests by legislators from Seemandhra region opposing state bifurcation.