Andhra Pradesh Assembly could not transact any real business on Monday as main opposition TDP stalled proceedings demanding that ministers, who allegedly received kickbacks from liquor syndicates, be sacked from the Cabinet immediately, forcing adjournment of the House for the day.
Unsatisfied with the government’s reply to a marathon debate on the liquor syndicates issue in the House on Friday, the TDP MLAs stormed the Speaker’s podium when the House assembled this morning and raised slogans demanding sacking of tainted ministers. They wanted the debate on the controversial issue to be continued even today.
Two adjournments, each for half an hour, did not bring order in the House as the TDP legislators remained firm on their demands forcing Speaker Nadendla Manohar to eventually adjourn the House for the day.
The TDP demanded a judicial inquiry into the liquor syndicates’ affairs besides tabling of the Anti-Corruption Bureau report in the Assembly.
Right from the start of the day’s proceedings, the TDP members surrounded the Speaker’s podium, holding placards and raising slogans seeking dismissal of tainted ministers from the Cabinet.
The Speaker repeatedly said the TDP members could raise the issue in a different form as the House already debated it for nine hours on Friday.
Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu too made a similar appeal and asked the TDP members not to stall the House.
But the TDP legislators did not relent, leading to the first adjournment for half an hour.
Noisy scenes continued when the House re-assembled after about 70 minutes as the opposition legislators remained in the Well of the House, holding placards and raising slogans on their demands. They alleged that the Chief Minister was shielding the ministers who received kickbacks from the liquor syndicates.
Amid the din, the Speaker asked Government Whip Dronamraju Srinivas to initiate general discussion on the Budget after announcing that the questions listed for the day were “deemed to have been answered.”
With the TDP MLAs raising their pitch, the Speaker adjourned the House for half an hour for the second time. The half an hour adjournment lasted close to two hours but did not bring an end to the pandemonium.
Earlier, TDP members, led by their chief N Chandrababu Naidu, came to the Assembly in a rally after staging a protest at the Gun Park. Naidu got angry at the police personnel when they objected to carrying of placards into the Assembly building. “Be in your limits,” he told police officials on duty.
–PTI