The Hindu : Front Page : Ruckus over MSP issue; 15 members suspended in Council

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Wednesday, Nov 21, 2007
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Ruckus over MSP issue; 15 members suspended in Council

Special Correspondent

Pandemonium marks conclusion of Assembly session

— Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

on the offensive: Opposition MLAs raising slogans in the Assembly lobbies, unhappy over the Government’s reply on enhancement of MSP for paddy, on Tuesday in Hyderabad.

HYDERABAD: Ahead of Wednesday’s Statewide bandh by the Opposition demanding higher support prices for 13 agricultural commodities, political parties vied aggressively with one another in both Houses of the Legislature to champion the cause of farmers.

As a result, pandemonium marked the conclusion of the ten-day long winter session of the Assembly while the Council adjourned sine die on Tuesday evening after suspension of 15 Opposition members in the morning session. Slogan-shouting Telugu Desam Party members staged a dharna in the well of the Assembly, demanding increase in the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy to Rs. 1,000 a quintal.

Charge against YSR

After spending the night on the floor of the Assembly lobby as a mark of protest, TDP leader N. Chandrababu Naidu and his party members flayed the Rajasekhara Reddy Government for ‘incompetence’ in convincing the Centre to enhance the MSP for paddy. Mr. Naidu offered to quit politics if his contention that the disparity between wheat and paddy prices began with the Congress regime was proved wrong.

Amid the din, a resolution moved by Agriculture Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy was adopted by voice vote urging the Centre to enhance the MSP for 13 kharif and three rabi crops. The enhancement should be in a manner that would provide respectable standard of living, as per the recommendations of Dr. M. S. Swaminathan, eminent agricultural scientist, and fixed 50 per cent over and above the cost of production.

It was no different in the Council, with 15 TDP, TRS and an Independent trooping into the well demanding a discussion on MSP. Chairman A. Chakrapani suspended them for the day after which the Council adopted a similar resolution.

Dramatic entry

The TDP, Left and TRS members came to the Assembly carrying paddy sheaves and cotton plants. They staged a dharna at the entrance later accusing the Government of running away from the debate and not doing enough to pressure the Centre. In a side drama, some TDP members tried to stop Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy even as he was leaving for Pulivendula.

Leaders shifted

Meanwhile, the police on Tuesday night forcibly removed the representatives of farmers’ organisations of different political parties who are on an indefinite hunger strike since November 18 demanding higher MSP. A posse of policemen descended on the strike camp near Indira Park and shifted 13 fasting leaders, who had given Wednesday’s bandh call, to Gandhi Hospital.

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