VIJAYAWADA: Five TDP MLAs were suspended as chaos continued on the second day of the monsoon session of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. However, at the end of the day, the Opposition party decided to boycott the Assembly and Council sessions in protest against the attitude of the Speaker and ruling YSRC.
“The Speaker is not even reading out our adjournment motions completely. We lost respect for the Chair after he called us useless fellows and referred to YSRC MLAs as ‘our members’,” TDP AP State unit president K Atchannaidu told reporters on Friday.
The yellow party complained that Speaker Tammineni Sitaram denied the leaders an opportunity to raise the issue of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s arrest and disallowed the adjournment motions moved by them.
Sloganeering & whistling mar monsoon session on day 2
As soon as the session began, TDP MLAs rushed to the Well and climbed on the Speaker’s Podium. Even as the Speaker took up the Question Hour, the TDP members remained on the Podium and raised slogans, demanding that cases against Naidu be withdrawn.
The legislators, including Hindupur MLA and actor Nandamuri Balakrishna, tore papers and blew whistles. Subsequently, the Speaker adjourned the House for a break.When the proceedings commenced later, the Opposition MLAs were prevented by the Marshals from entering the Well. At this juncture, the ruling party leaders objected to Kinjarapu Atchannaidu and Bendalam Ashok taking videos of the proceedings on their mobiles.
As the Legislative Affairs Minister was not available in the House at the time, Government Chief Whip M Prasada Raju moved the motion for the suspension of the two MLAs from the House for the entire Session. Following the Speaker’s announcement, the two legislators were suspended for the remainder of the session.
Three other MLAs - Nimmala Rama Naidu, Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu and Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdary - were suspended for the day for disrupting the proceedings of the House. However, all other TDP leaders walked out with the suspended members.Taking strong exception to the sloganeering of the TDP MLAs, Legislative Affairs Minister Buggana Rajendranath remarked that the Opposition MLAs lacked decency and decorum.