The hearing conducted by the Privileges Committee of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly into the unruly scenes witnessed during the brief monsoon session last month ended inconclusively as three MLAs from the Opposition YSR Congress Party did not turn up.
The committee, which resumed hearing on the second day on Wednesday, decided to serve notices on the three members — Kodali Srivenkateswara Rao, P. Ramakrishna Reddy and Ch. Bhaskar Reddy —afresh asking them to appear before it on December 2. Since the two-month deadline set by Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao is set to end soon, the committee has decided to address a letter to the Speaker seeking extension of the deadline, panel chairman G. Surya Rao said.
Mr. Surya Rao said the committee had taken note of the members’ view point on the unruly scenes witnessed in the Assembly between September 8 and 10. The views of the three members would also be incorporated in the report before its submission to the Speaker for further action.
He said there was no truth in the YSR Congress members’ charge that a decision on initiating action against the members had been taken already. “If that was the case, why was the issue referred to the Privileges Committee at all? The Legislative Affairs Minister would have moved the motion of suspension during the session itself and the members would have faced suspension then and there itself,” he said.
YSRC members A. Ramakrishna Reddy, B. Mutyala Naidu, Dr. Sunil, K. Sanjivaiah, Kambala Jogulu who appeared before the panel, however, asserted that their actions were aimed at registering protest against the denial of special category status to the State and that they were in no way belittling the Chair or the Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
They wondered why the Chief Minister had compromised on the coveted status in spite of asserting that his Government would seek the special status to the State for 15 years.
The YSRC members rushed to the Speaker’s podium after the Chair disallowed a debate on the issue and Opposition leader Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was not allowed to expressed his resentment, they said. “We are committed to our struggle for achieving the special category status as it is the only way to put the State on an accelerated path of growth. We are not deterred by action, if any, initiated against us as we are elected to highlight the issues of immediate public importance in the House,” Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy said.
