The issue of attacks on Opposition party workers in Andhra Pradesh rocked the AP Legislative Assembly for the second consecutive day on Tuesday forcing the Speaker Dr. Kodela Sivaprasada Rao to adjourn the House.
The normalcy that prevailed in the morning after the House took up question hour, soon gave way to bedlam as the YSRC members moved into the well holding placards to disrupt the proceedings demanding that the House discuss the attacks on its party workers in the last three months.
The Speaker’s repeated attempts to placate the slogan-shouting legislators assuring a discussion under Rule 344 and seeking more time to get information from the districts, did not cut any ice. On a couple of occasions, the House witnessed some unsavoury incidents when Treasury and Opposition benches indulged in verbal duels.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had to put off his statement on his government’s mission-based development. In fact, the developments led to a situation where he could not read out the statement, the copies of which were already given to the media .
Earlier, the House proceedings began on a normal note with question hour being taken up, followed by a tea break. After the House reassembled, YSRC members began insisting on a discussion on the deteriorating law and order situation with particular reference to political murders. They moved into the well shouting slogans.
A TDP member, Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar’s remark that the family of the Leader of Opposition Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy was known for its factions led to an uproar and after a while the House was adjourned for 15 minutes. When it was reconvened at 1.15 p.m., YSRCP members stormed the well again to which the TDP members objected. Legislative Affairs Minister Y. Ramakrishnudu’s request that the Opposition should behave responsibly and allow the House to transact business fell on deaf ears.
Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy’s argument was that the House must discuss the attacks on his party members in the last three months and by rejecting the demand, the government did not show any value to human life, he charged. This prompted Mr Ramakrishnudu to quip that the government was ready to discuss any issue, if proper procedures were followed. “Not just these three months, we are ready for a discussion on every murder that took place since 2004 till 2013,” he said.
Labour Minister T. Atchan Naidu regretted that YSRC members were talking of political murders and asked, “Look what happened to Paritala Ravindra and the way he was murdered in broad daylight.”
