It’s total chaos

Seemandhra TDP and YSRCP MLAs tear and burn copies of T Bill; rival groups come to blows

It’s total chaos

Speaker tables T Bill in Assembly amidst furore

• House was adjourned twice following ruckus and finally for the day
• Most of the violent actions took place at Media Point
• Members from Telangana hail tabling of the Bill
• Kiran skips session, Naidu attends second half
• TDP and YSRCP members sit on dharna inside Assembly, evicted after midnight
• Furore in Council also and Chairman Chakrapani adjourns the House
• Speaker gets Bill translated into Telugu and Urdu l OU on the boil again

Hyderabad: The draft State Reorganisation Bill to divide the state of Andhra Pradesh was tabled in the State Assembly and the Council amid unprecedented chaotic scenes, with Seemandhra and Telangana legislators coming to blows outside.

The House witnessed acrimonious scenes since morning and immediately after it met for the day, Speaker N Manohar adjourned it for 30 minutes. When it reassembled, Manohar announced that he had received the draft Bill from the President and tabled it. On the direction of Manohar, Legislature Secretary S Rajasadaram began reading out the covering letter.

The Speaker also announced that the copies were translated into Telugu and Urdu languages for the convenience of members, although there were no special provisions.

As the secretary was reading the letter, Seemandhra MLAs from all parties rushed to the well of the House to thwart attempts of the Speaker to go ahead with the procedure. To fend off their counterparts from creating trouble, the TRS MLAs stood as a wall and prevented them from climbing the podium.

The Telangana legislators, including deputy chief minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, hailed the introduction of the Bill. The ministers from the region thumped the desks. Incidentally, neither Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy nor leader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu was present when the Bill was tabled. PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana also could not attend as he was out of Hyderabad.

Telangana legislators from TRS, TDP and Congress were overjoyed and started congratulating each other. Following ruckus, the Speaker adjourned the House again.

There was commotion at the media point in the Assembly premises as TDP and YSR Congress MLAs tore and set afire to copies of the draft Bill. The Telangana MLAs cutting across party lines condemned the incident while MLAs from both the regions came to blows. TRS MLA G Kamalakar clashed with TDP member D Umamaheswara Rao who tore the copy of the Bill. Another TRS MLA Bikshapati threw a chair at YSRCP members who resorted to burning of the Bill. Police intervened and separated the MLAs.

Telangana legislators led by Congress leader and government chief whip G Venkatramna Reddy rushed towards the media point to stop them. The two sides tried to push each other. In the melee, YSR Congress legislator Srikant Reddy fell on the ground.

Later when a group of YSRCP MLAs reached the spot to address the media, some reporters and cameramen belonging to a TV channel and a newspaper from Telangana allegedly manhandled them and tried to prevent them from addressing the media. Following this, the YSRCP legislators rushed to the Speaker with their complaint against the media persons and demanded that strong action be taken. They also demanded that the Assembly media passes of the guilty be cancelled. While the Seemandhra MLAs held dharna in front of the Speaker’s chamber, T ministers, T Congress MLAs, TRS and TTDP leaders also staged counter agitation demanding that the Speaker initiate the discussion immediately. Soon after the House re-assembled at 2.50 pm, the seemandhra MLAs from treasury benches and the opposition rushed to the Speaker’s podium. Even before Deputy Speaker M Bhatti Vikramarka could take his seat, YSRCP MLA K Ramachandra Reddy climbed the Speaker’s podium and uprooted the mike. The House witnessed unruly scenes as the legislators tore the Bill and threw at the Deputy Speaker.

The TDP and Congress MLAs of Seemandhra also stood up on the seats and benches provided for the official staff in front of the podium and shouted Samaikyandhra slogans. The agitated MLAs pressed the quorum bell that was fixed on the table of the Secretary. In the melee, Guntakal MLA Madhusudhna Gupta and TRS MLA J Krishna Rao and Harish Rao came to near blows. Amid pandemonium, the Legislative Affairs Minister urged the Deputy Speaker to allow the House to take up discussion on the Bill immediately. He claimed that all political parties -- Congress, TDP, YSR Congress, TRS and left parties -- had agreed to the debate if the T Bill is referred to the Assembly in the ongoing winter session. On the advice of the minister, the Deputy Speaker asked opposition leader N Chandra Babu Naidu, who had arrived in the House by then, to initiate debate on the Bill. Even before Naidu could react, the Chair adjourned the House for the day sparking a new controversy on whether the discussion had begun or not.

Protesting against the manner in which the Speaker had introduced the draft T Bill, about 40 TDP and YSRCP Seemandhra MLAs resorted to flash protest in the State Assembly and have been sitting on dharna till late in the night.