Balakrishna among 13 TD MLAs suspended; budget speech disrupted for first time
Vijayawada: On the second consecutive day, 13 Telugu Desam MLAs were suspended from the Assembly following massive disruptions during presentation of the AP Budget 2023. Among them was Nandamuri Balakrishna.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy condemned the unruly behaviour of TD legislators and urged Speaker Tammineni Sitaram to take stern action and restore order. The suspensions followed.
At the outset when finance minister Buggana Rajendranth started his Budget speech, TD legislators raised slogans against the Jagan government, highlighting its “failures” vis-a-vis salary payment to government employees and financial “mismanagement.” They said the state under the YSRC government was neck-deep in financial crisis due to “financial mismanagement and corruption.”
They said the government was unable to pay even salaries to government employees. They sought a discussion on these issues, but the plea was rejected by the Speaker.
The finance minister said that no opposition party had ever stopped Budget presentation in the past. “The opposition can express their views after completion of the Budget presentation,” he proposed.
The TD MLAs did not heed the FM’s words and continued the protest. The YSRC ministers and legislators objected to the unruly behaviour. Speaker Sitaram said the protest at this hour was unfair and appealed to the TD legislators to remain calm. But the uproar continued.
CM Jagan intervened to say the people were watching the Budget presentation to know about the welfare, development and other steps being unveiled by the finance minister. He said the TD was intentionally creating the ruckus with a view to ensure that the people would not hear about the government’s good steps.
Jagan Mohan Reddy requested the Speaker to send out the trouble-makers and restore order. Speaker Sitaram said stalling of the Budget presentation had never happened in the past. The TD members kept raising slogans by standing on the floor. FM Rajendranath moved a motion for suspension of the TD legislators, which was immediately passed.
The Speaker ordered the TD legislators out but they stood adamant. Marshalls were pressed into action and they forcibly removed these MLAs from the assembly.
Notably, Nandamuri Balakrishna who had not attended the Assembly Session for the past two days came in on Thursday but faced suspension. The other suspended TD members were Bendalam Ashok, Kinjarapu Atchannaidu, Adireddy Bhavani, Nimmakayala Chinarajappa, Gana Babu, Gadde Rammohan, Manthena Ramaraju, Gottipati Ravikumar, Eluri Sambasiva and DBV Swamy.
