`COSTLY' GIFT: Women MLAs of the TDP present packets of vegetables to Agriculture Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy to highlight the steep rise in their prices in the Assembly on Monday. - Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD: The Assembly was adjourned without transacting any business on Monday after a determined Opposition disrupted the proceedings pressing for a debate on price rise, Polavaram project and withdrawal of GO on Pothireddypadu head regulator.

Earlier, Speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy had to adjourn the House on three occasions following uproarious scenes with CPI (M) members staging a sit-in near his podium and Telugu Desam members displaying packets of vegetables and placards. The third adjournment lasted three hours.

The Opposition members blamed the Speaker and the Chief Minister for the stalemate in the House. As a mark of protest, they did not attend the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting. They charged the Leader of the House and other Congress members with exerting pressure on the Speaker to deny an opportunity to air their views. Leader of the Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu was not present in the House as he is away in Guwahati.

Soon after the House met to take up question hour, Mr. Reddy announced that he had disallowed seven adjournment notices tabled by the main Opposition Telugu Desam on the abnormal rise in the prices of essential commodities, CPI (M) on non-payment of compensation to ryots of Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam and others by CPI, TRS, MIM, BJP and Janata Party. The Opposition members were on their feet seeking a debate on their adjournment notices. The Speaker wanted them to utilise other options and assured them that the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) would decide the agenda. However, the members did not relent. Amid the din, the TDP, CPI (M) and CPI members held aloft placards.

Packets waved

Several TDP members waved packets of vegetables and pulses and the CPI (M) members even rushed into the well and staged a sit-in on the steps leading to the Speaker's podium. The Speaker then adjourned the house for the first time.

A similar scene was re-enacted when the House re-assembled prompting Legislative Affairs and Finance Minister K. Rosaiah to object to the behaviour of the Opposition. P. Aruna and two other women MLAs of TDP rushed towards the Speaker's podium, forcing the Chair to adjourn for the second time. The Speaker announced that all questions were deemed to have been answered and adjourned the House for the third time.

When the House assembled after over three hours, the Speaker appealed to the agitated members to understand his predicament. He invited the floor leaders to the BAC meeting to frame the agenda for debate, including the issues raised through adjournment motions.

There were no takers for his suggestion to start a short discussion on HIV/AIDS while the BAC meeting was held simultaneously.

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