VIJAYAWADA: YSR Congress ministers Botcha Satyanarayana, Velampalli Srinivas and P Anil Kumar on Thursday alleged that the TDP deliberately disrupted the proceedings in the Legislative Council, misusing the majority it had in the upper house.
Condemning the alleged attack on one of the ministers by the TDP, Botcha Satyanarayana said that the ruling party was examining the legalities to lodge a complaint with the ethics committee against TDP MLC Nara Lokesh and his colleagues for allegedly photographing the session and other violations.
"It is a conspiracy. They planned to disrupt the House. Yanamala Ramakrishnudu told the media that they will stall the proceedings even before the day’s proceedings began. It was a deliberate attempt. They planned all this much ahead and had even taken the Governor’s appointment in advance to complain," Botcha alleged.
He further said that it was the tradition to pass the appropriation bill after finishing other businesses. "They cited rule 90 out of blue. As per rules, they have to give a notice a day ahead for any discussion under rule 90, but that did not happen. If they had any issue with the bills that were to be introduced, they could vote against it or propose amendments like they did in case of the Panchayat Raj amendment bill we brought for electoral reforms. At one point, even CM Jagan Mohan Reddy called and suggested that appropriation bill be discussed. We compromised and requested that the three bills - APCRDA repeal bill, decentralisation of the capital bill and appropriation bill - be introduced and that the chairman/deputy chairman can take a call on which should be discussed. They still didn’t heed," he said.
He also condemned the ‘unruly’ behaviour of Nara Lokesh alleging that the TDP MLC continued to videograph the proceedings even after the chairman asked him not to do so. “When our minister asked him not to, they provoked and attacked us,” he claimed.
Endowments Minister Velampalli Srinivas blamed Nara Lokesh for intentionally provoking the TDP members to attack the ruling party. The minister said both Chandrababu Naidu and his son Lokesh were breaking the Council rules by recording the House proceedings on their cell phone. “Though Naidu boycotted the Assembly session, he was sitting in the Council gallery to record the session on his mobile,” he said.
Water Resources Minister Anil Kumar said that the opposition bulldozed the proceedings. “Yanamala has said that the TDP would act as per its wishes as it has majority in the council. Everything is on record and it is clear that the TDP leaders have intentionally dragged Rule 90 to halt the bills and delay salary payment to the employees,” he alleged.
“They accused me of unzipping my pants in front of women MLCs. I challenge them to prove their allegations. But, before that, let Lokesh, Deepak Reddy, Rajendra Prasad and Ashok Babu give a letter to the chairman stating that they will unconditionally resign from the posts if they fail to prove the charges. I will also give a similar letter,” Anil Kumar said.