Upping the ante against the BJP-led government at the Centre, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has strongly criticised the suspension eight MPs who staged a protest in the House against the passage of three farmers’ Bills in the Rajya Sabha and participated in a demonstration staged by the suspended MPs and other MPs on the premises of Parliament in New Delhi on Monday.
When the government, through the Rajya Sabha Chairman, was citing rules for suspension of the MPs why was it silent on another rule of Parliamentary procedures which would make it mandatory to go for voting on contentious issues when the ruling party had no clear majority. Speaking in New Delhi, the party MPs sought to know how the Bills were passed with voice vote when the ruling BJP had no numbers and even some of its allies were opposing them.
Rajya Sabha members from TRS K. Keshava Rao, K.R. Suresh Reddy, J. Santosh Kumar and others participated in the protest staged against suspension of the MPs and the way in which the Bills were passed.
Back in Hyderabad, TRS leaders led by Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries Talasani Srinivas Yadav along with legislators M.S. Prabhakar, Kaleru Venkatesh, Mutha Gopal and Maganti Gopinath alleged that the Centre was making a mockery of democracy by passing three farmers’ Bills in spite of large scale opposition. The Central government was unmindful of even the resignation of a Cabinet Minister from an ally in protest against the Bills, they said.
‘KCR will lead’
Alleging that passage of the controversial Bills was a conspiracy to handover agriculture to the corporate sector, Mr. Yadav said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who he said had initiated several pioneering steps for the development of farm sector and welfare of farmers, would lead the farmers’ movement against the draconian Bills, if necessary. They sought to know why the members were not allowed to speak when the BJP was sure about its strength in the Rajya Sabha.
They pointed out that Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the Chairman of Rajya Sabha, did not chair the session in which the Bills were passed, perhaps he too was against the bills personally. They sought to know in which corner of the country the farming community had celebrated the passage of the three Bills. In contrast, people, particularly farmers, had celebrated in Telangana when the Legislature had passed new revenue Bill recently, they noted.
