Protest, Slogans mar first day of Assembly session

The opening day of the winter session of the Telangana Legislative Assembly on Friday witnessed protests and slogan shouting by the Congress members in the House on the issue of farmers plight and crop damage due to unprecedented rains in the state recently.

Trouble began soon after the House assembled at 10 am and the Deputy Speaker Padma Devender Reddy took up the question hour as per the agenda. However, the Congress members protested and demanded that the House should take up their adjournment motion first on the issue of farmers plight. Even the BJP members wanted that the farmers issue should have precedence over the question hour.

           

The Deputy Speaker however did not yield to the members demand and pointed out that as decided in the BAC meeting the question hour has to be completed first. She assured to consider the demand of the Congress and BJP members only after the completion of the question hour.

However, the Congress members persisted for taking up the farmers issue first and began raising slogans and stormed into the podium. The House reverberated with the slogans against the government by the Congress members, who did not yield to the appeals by the Chair to maintain peace and decency in the House and allow the proceedings to continue.

          

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s attempt to make the protesting Congress members to see reason and resume their seats as the government was prepared to discuss all the issues to be raised by the Opposition parties did not yield any result. Amidst the slogan shouting by the Congress members, the Deputy Speaker commenced the question hour.

           

As the question hour was in progress and the ruckus by the Congress members continued unabatedly, the Floor leader of MIM, Akbaruddin Owaisi, made a fervent appeal to the protesting members to resume their seats and allow the question hour to be completed and then take up the farmers’ issue. While agreeing that the farmers issue was very important and that his party too was for discussion on the subject, he felt that the question hour should be allowed to be completed first. He appealed to the Deputy Speaker to restore calm and peace in the House and asserted that if the Congress members fail to yield to the requests of the Chair, then stern action should be initiated against them forthwith.

           

However while the Congress members stuck to their guns throwing the House into pandemonium, the Deputy Speaker too stood firm on her ruling and ensured that the questions listed for the day be taken up for reply by the ministers. As per the decision taken at yesterday’s BAC meeting the question hour was extended to one and half hours instead of one hour. And once the question hour timing was completed, the Deputy Speaker abruptly adjourned the House to met again on Monday. (NSS).