Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad   

Comedy of errors

HYDERABAD: The one-day session of the Legislative Assembly to elect the presiding officers witnessed a comedy of errors with the pro tem Speaker as well as the legislature staff committing some faux pas on Saturday.

It all began with the national anthem which is played before the start of the day's session.

But the proceedings began this time even before the anthem was completed. As it was being played, Mr. Diwakar Reddy and the TDP members, who were near the podium, were engaged in exchanges. Mr. Diwakar Reddy, however, expressed regrets, saying this was “unintentional and unfortunate”.

Adding to the bloomers was the announcement of election of Mr. Nadendla Manohar as Speaker by voice vote by Mr. Diwakar Reddy without going in for a vote. Only after the protests by TDP members, the division of votes was taken up.

Mr. Diwakar Reddy committed another gaffe when he referred to the new Speaker as Nadendla Bhaskar Rao, father of Mr. Manohar. Correcting himself quickly, he said Mr. Manohar, son of Mr. Bhaskar Rao.

There was an element of surprise over the number of votes polled by Mr. Manohar. Congress members were at their wits end to learn that he secured only 158 votes as against the expected 170-plus votes. Legislative Affairs Minister D. Sridhar Babu ordered an internal enquiry and summoned the video recordings, the attendance register, and names of the staff, who conducted the head count.

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