Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Friday rejected the demand of YSR Congress to hold a special session of the Assembly to enable the House take up a resolution for keeping the State united.
Mr. Reddy reportedly questioned the need for a special session ahead of the winter session when a delegation of YSRC MLAs, led by Shobha Nagi Reddy met him at the Secretariat and submitted a memorandum in this regard. Balineni Srinivas Reddy, Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, Sucharitha, Gottipati Ravi, Srikanth Reddy and Dwarampudi Chandrasekhar were among the delegation.
Following the rejection of their plea, the MLAs staged a sit-in in front of the Chief Minister’s block in support of their demand. The slogan-shouting MLAs were promptly arrested by the police, who bodily lifted some of them to the waiting police vans. They also displayed placards against bifurcation and blamed the Chief Minister for aiding the process of division. They were taken to Saifabad police station and released subsequently.
The MLAs said that a special session before the draft Bill would enable the members to express their views on the issue of bifurcation and table a resolution against the division in the larger interest of people and to safeguard the prospects of future generations.
Pointing out that the pace of the process of division has increased with the Group of Ministers taking stock of the situation and chalking out the action plan, they wanted the Assembly to be convened to discuss the issue threadbare before the draft Bill was prepared.
The MLAs earlier planned to stage a dharna near the Chief Minister’s camp office. But on learning that he left for Secretariat they went there. They later met Speaker N. Manohar and submitted a similar memorandum.
