War of words at ZP meeting

Noisy scenes were witnessed at the Zilla Parishad general body meeting here on Thursday when members of the YSR Congress and the Telugu Desam Party indulged in a wordy duel over the issue of vesting of powers with the Janmabhoomi committees.

A host of issues came up for discussion at the meeting such as non-implementation of protocol in official programmes, role of ‘Janmabhoomi’ committees and humiliation meted out on a ZPTC by the Zilla Parishad high school headmaster and mandal education officer.

Home Minister N. China Rajappa, MPs Thota Narasimham, P. Ravindra Babu, MLAs and MLCs attended the meeting chaired by Zilla Parishad Chairman Namana Rambabu.

As soon as the meeting began YSRC leaders -- Jyothula Naveen and Chirla Jaggireddy -- and TDP MLA Gorantla Buchaiah Chowdary and MLC Reddi Subrahmanyam entered a wordy duel on the Janmabhoomi panel issue. The YSRC leaders questioned the legality of the committees, while the TDP leaders maintained that the committees were part of the administration.

Media stages walk out

Even as the exchange of words was on, Mr. Chowdary passed sarcastic remarks against the media, as a few videographers were shooting footage of various speakers. As Mr. Chowdary continued to speak, the ZP Chairman intervened and reminded the MLA that the media had an invite from the ZP to cover the meeting.

Mr. Chowdary, however, accused the media of lack of dignity, after which the journalists staged a walk out from the meeting hall.

The war of words between the YSRC and the TDP members continued as the former complained of non-implementation of protocol in the government meetings at the village and mandal level. The discussion continued for an hour after which Mr. Rajappa asked the officials to follow protocol without fail.

CPI protest

Meanwhile, outside the meeting hall, activists of the Communist Party of India staged a protest against the non-availability of sand.

The activists led by party’s district unit secretary T. Madhu made a futile bid to enter the meeting hall forcing the police to resort to mild caning to bring the situation under control. The activists sat on a dharna for a while and submitted a memorandum to Mr. Rajappa.

Members of YSRC and TDP trade charges, ruling party accused of protocol violation