The Telangana issue rocked the Lok Sabha on Thursday with Congress members exchanging hot words with a TDP member on the controversial topic.
V. Arun Kumar (Cong) raised the issue of a united Andhra Pradesh during Zero Hour. He said life was paralysed in some parts of the State due to the ongoing agitation on the issue.
He said a similar agitation took place in 1972 in which he too had participated.
As he was supporting the cause of a united Andhra Pradesh, some Congress members supporting a separate Telangana started raising slogans, apparently targeting the TDP.
This prompted Nama Nageshwar Rao (TDP) to protest. The verbal duel continued for several minutes.
While Mr. Rao took his seat, Congress members kept raising slogans. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram urged them to sit down even as Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh went over to their seats to pacify them.
T.R. Baalu (DMK) wanted India to take steps to ensure that Sri Lanka is suspended from the comity of Commonwealth nations for its human rights violations against ethnic Tamils.
He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should not attend the Commonwealth summit proposed to be held in Colombo in November.
Another round of war of words erupted, this time between Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress over the plight of farmers in Punjab.
Rattan Singh Ajnala (SAD) blamed the Congress rule for the plight of farmers and said they should be compensated with a package.
Ravneet Singh (Cong) blamed the SAD Government in the State for the plight of the farming community.
Sanjay Jaiswal (BJP) said the decision of the Medical Council of India and the Health Ministry that a stint in rural areas is compulsory for those wanting admission to PG courses in medical streams was wrong.
If women were not safe in urban areas, how could they be safe in rural areas, he asked. SP members said there was nothing wrong if young doctors served in rural areas.
