HYDERABAD: All-India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen members prevented leader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu from lodging a protest in the Assembly on Monday against corruption and government's refusal to place the 26 controversial GOs before the speaker.
When Naidu rose to lodge his protest, MIM members rushed to the speaker's podium and stalled the proceedings, insisting that a thorough debate, not a mere protest, was needed on corruption. This compelled deputy speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka to adjourn the House for the day.
It may be recalled that the opposition had stalled the proceedings for five days demanding sacking of six "tainted" ministers who received Supreme Court notices in the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's illegal assets case. As the government refused to sack the ministers, the Opposition demanded placing of the 26 GOs, which allegedly helped the YS Rajasekhara Reddy's family to amass Rs 1 lakh crore. The government rejected that demand too.
Earlier in the day, When the House sat for the question hour, opposition members stalled the proceedings demanding that the controversial GOs issued by the YS Rajasekhara Reddy government be placed before the House. The ruckus made the speaker adjourn the House at 9.05 am. Then the Speaker convened an all-party floor leaders' meeting to find an end to the impasse. Coming down from their demand for placement of the GOs, the opposition parties agreed to lodge a protest against the government's refusal to place the GOs for perusal by the House.
When the House reassembled at 11.20 am, TDP's P Keshav said that as the government was not accepting their demands, the Opposition decided to take the corruption issue to people's court. Then the deputy speaker allotted 15 minutes to the TDP, 10 minutes to the TRS and a few minutes to other parties to register their protest.
Legislative affairs minister D Sridhar Babu wondered how the chair could allot time for registering protest. The protest should not be lengthy lest it should turn into a debate. Sridhar Babu urged the chair not to specify the time for the opposition to lodge their protest against government on corruption.
But the deputy Speaker stuck to his ruling. As Chandrababu Naidu started explaining how corruption took place and why the TDP decided to lodge its protest, MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi alleged that the Congress and the TDP had an understanding on running or stalling the House. ``Both parties had other assignments outside and stalled the proceedings.”