The first ever session of Telangana Legislative Council commenced on Monday with 30 members taking oath.
The session chaired by Chairman Nethi Vidyasagar (Congress) was attended by15 Congress members, six Telugu Desam, four TRS , two MIM and three nominated members and rest independents. Two members, M.S.Prabhakar Rao (Congress) and B. Lakshminarayana (TDP) abstained due to personal reasons.
Though the agenda had only administering of oath to the members, Congress member Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy suggested that the House should take note of the tragic incident where several city engineering college students were washed away in a river near Kulu in Himachal Pradesh. It was seconded by several members.
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Some members had reservations against adopting a condolence motion as the Government is yet to officially announce how many students lost their lives in the incident.
Then K. Nageshwar said the House could at least pass a resolution expressing regret over the tragic incident. TD MLC B. Venkateswarulu lamented that the students were caught unawares when the water was released from the dam without any warning. Both the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Governments arranged special flights for the parents of students.
The Telugu Desam leaders lost no time in alerting the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was in Guntur on Sunday and he in turn rushed the NDRF personnel, he said.
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The House later observed a two-minute silence as a mark of respect to hundreds of youth who sacrificed their lives for Telangana.
The proposal to pay respects came from TD member Narsa Reddy and it was backed by ruling party member Swamy Goud.
Though the Chairman felt they could wait till the Chief Minister came to the House, leader of opposition D. Srinivas insisted that going by the mood of the House, the Deputy Chief Minister Mahmood Ali could move the resolution to pay respects to the Telangana martyrs.
Leader of the House Srinivas complimented the Telangana students from Adilabad and Khammam for scaling the Mount Everest and said the Government should reward them for their stupendous achievement. The sentiment was shared by several members who said it was a proud moment for Telangana and the two students should be honoured.
The House was adjourned to meet again on Wednesday.