The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Political murders issue rocks House

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 29, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Political murders issue rocks House

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JULY 28. Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Assembly on Wednesday when Telugu Desam members stalled the question hour proceedings for about 70 minutes demanding that the Chair admit their adjournment notice on "continuing political murders" and a statement from the Government on providing protection to party MLAs who were facing a threat to their lives.

As soon as the House met, the Speaker, K.R. Suresh Reddy, announced that he had disallowed the notices given by TDP, BJP, MIM and Janata Party members for admitting adjournment motions on separate issues and asked MLAs of these parties to raise the matter during the debate on the Appropriation Bill tomorrow.

While the other members heeded the Chair's advice, several TDP legislators remained on their feet and urged the Speaker to set aside the listed business and admit their notice.

`TDP demand unfair'

Objecting to the TDP's demand, the Government Chief Whip, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, quoting rules, said an issue which was discussed during the current session could not be raised again in the form of an adjournment motion. This was disputed by the former Speaker, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, who conteded that it did not apply to the notice given by his party members, as fresh incidents were continuously occurring.

Mr. Ramakrishnudu and other TDP members said that no protection was given to party MLAs, who were facing threat to their lives even 10 days after the assurance given by the Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, during an all-party meeting convened by the Chair on the issue. The Telugu Desam members continued to stall the proceedings even after the Speaker assured them that he would review the matter with those who needed additional security.

A serious issue, says Naidu

The Leader of the Opposition, N. Chandrababu Naidu, said his party member, Paritala Ravindra, from Anantapur was unable to come to the House because of the threat to his life.

He demanded an end to "political murders." Urging the Chair to admit the adjournment motion, he referred to yesterday's murder in Anantapur and said a total of 21 persons were killed in the State.

CM seeks to clear the air

Intervening, the Chief Minister said he had enquired about yesterday's Anantapur incident and the Superintendent of Police, who visited the spot, suspected that it might not be related to politics and was the result of a family dispute.

He condemned the TDP for "misusing" the House by trying to make an issue of any small incident. As the din continued, the Legislative Affairs Minister, K. Rosaiah, urged the Speaker to name the members and permit him to move a resolution to suspend them.

The impasse ended after the Speaker announced that he would convene a meeting of floor leaders and the Government.

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