Hyderabad, March 18: The proceedings in the Assembly were stalled for the second day on Thursday over the allotment of 250 acres of land at Shamshabad near Hyderabad, allegedly to business associates of Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy.
The sitting for the day lasted barely for 30 minutes, with the Question Hour being the first casualty. No business could be transacted before the House adjourned amid frequent disruptions.
As the session began, placard-holding Telugu Desam (TD) members moved to the podium again, raising slogans and repeating their demand for an inquiry by a joint legislature committee (JLC) into the “undue favour” shown to Mr. Reddy’s associates. Eight Congress members of Telangana region added to the din by shouting “Jai Telangana”.
Deputy Speaker N. Manohar adjourned the House for a 30-minute break which, however, lasted for 90 minutes. After resumption, the proceedings lasted for 15 minutes when Legislative affairs Minister D. Sridhar Babu said Telugu Desam party was politicising the issue for its own ends and it would best achieve its objective by addressing the media.
Strongly resenting the remark, P. Keshav (TD) sought to know why the government was scared of ordering a JLC probe into the allotment at a time when Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy himself offered to review all land allotments. This was prima facie admission of guilt.
The Minister said the Chief Minister would go into the allegation while reviewing all land allotments made to projects. He said it was unfortunate that members were stalling the proceedings daily, throwing all norms to winds .
–Agencies