A day of dharnas, clashes

Hyderabad: It was a day of heated arguments, allegations and counter allegations of assault, arson and dharnas at both Houses on Monday as Seemandhra and Telangana members clashed after the Telangana Bill was tabled.

At the Council media point, a melee broke out between Telugu Desam and TRS MLCs, during which TD MLC Nannapaneni Rajakumari lost her balance while another party MLC, P. Samanthaka Mani, received minor injuries.

At the Assembly media point, YSR Congress MLA G. Srikant Reddy fell on the ground during a fracas. Following this, YSRC MLAs met Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar and complained that there was no protection for MLAs at the media point. Later in the day, Manohar inspected the media point and asked the police to give a report.

Meanwhile, Rajakumari told the media that she would complain to the chairman of the Council and ask him to disqualify the responsible Members. TRS MLC Swamy Goud, however, apologised for the incident before the media.

After the Council adjourned for the day, Rajakumari and Mani updated TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu about the incident. After the Telangana Bill was tabled in both Houses, Seemandhra MLAs and MLCs tore copies of the Bill and set them alight at the media points. When Seemandhra TD MLCs, Satish Reddy and Raja Kumari, were tearing up copies of the Bill, Goud tried to stop them. On one of the stages, TD and TRS members nearly came to blows.

Meanwhile, at the Assembly, the lobbies saw dharnas by both Seemandhra and Telangana MLAs. The House was adjourned for an hour after the day’s session started at 9 am.

YSRC MLAs staged a dharna in front of the Speaker’s office, demanding that a resolution for a united AP be introduced. Later, Telangana MLAs of the Congress, TRS, TD and the CPI staged another dharna at the same place demanding that the Bill be tabled immediately.

When the House resumed at 10 am, the Speaker announced that he had received a communiqué from the President for tabling the Telangana Bill. However, the House had to be adjourned for another hour as it was not in order. Following this, Seemandhra MLAs staged another dharna inside the Speaker’s office, objecting to the Bill being tabled. They questioned how the Bill could be tabled without taking the opinions of Floor leaders.

Meanwhile, Telangana MLAs from the Congress, TRS, BJP and the TD staged another dharna before the Speaker’s chamber demanding that discussion on the Telangana Bill be taken up immediately and appealed to the Seemandhra MLAs to cooperate.

Soon after the Telangana Bill was tabled in the House, Seemandhra MLAs came out and opposed the bifurcation and tore up copies of the Bill at the media point.

When TD MLA Devineni Uma Maheswar Rao tore up copies of the Bill, an angry TRS MLA Gangula Kamalakar tried to stop him. Later YSRC MLAs set the torn copies on fire even as Telangana MLAs, led by Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy, rushed to stop them. The police too tried to intervene. YSRC MLA G. Srikant Goud fell in the ensuing melee.

Telangana MLAs condemned the action of Seemandhra MLAs and government chief Whip Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy said that the actions of Seemandhra MLAs were highly objectionable.
TRS Floor leader Etala Rajendar said that the Seemandhra MLAs’ action was an insult to the Telangana people and demanded an apology.

Meanwhile, Telangana Congress MLCs, led by K. Yadava Reddy, asked the Council chairman to take action and to also disqualify those who had torn up the Bill. Telangana minister K. Jana Reddy and others also termed the action of the Seemandhra MLAs as undemocratic.