Big clash on cards

TD, Cong set to stall Assembly on assault issue

Hyderabad: The battle lines have been drawn between the ruling and Opposition parties in the Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana even as the regular session of both the Houses will begin on Monday.The TDP and Congress are firm on taking the government to task on the alleged attack on Opposition members during Governor ESL Narasimhan’s address to the joint session.Alleging that the TRS members had attacked them, the TDP and Congress members have reportedly decided to stall the proceedings demanding action against TRS members. With Assembly blocking the telecast of what exactly is happening during such events, both sides would stick to their respective stands and accuse the other parties. In the past, the cameras used to show any disturbance but the rules were changed during the regime of N Kiran Kumar Reddy in the undivided AP.

The TDP MLAs who met here on Sunday decided to stall the House until the government takes action against the members. Stating this, TDP leader Errabelli Dayakar Rao said they would demand the Speaker to convene an all-party meeting and produce the original video footage before the House commences the proceedings. The Opposition members also expressed doubts that the government might show the edited footage to protect the ruling party members. The Congress also decided to corner the TRS government on the whole episode that brought disrepute to the state in the presence of the Governor. Sources said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is likely to make a statement on the episode.On the other hand in the AP Assembly, the YSRCP has complained that it was getting lesser time and insisted that more time be given to the Opposition to air the grievances of the people. “Ministers are given more on the pretext of clarifications,” it said.

However, the TDP rejected this argument stating that the ruling party and government are two different entities and rules provide more time to the government. Hence, the time given to the ministers to give clarifications on the issues raised by the members cannot be clubbed with the time given to the ruling party. But the YSRCP has been interrupting the discussions and wasting a lot of time, the TDP said. The YSRCO is also likely to insist that the session be extended till March 30 so as to discuss issues like farmers’ suicides, drinking water, crop insurance, input subsidy, etc.They also want discussion on the Patteseema Lift Irrigation and Polavaram Projects to corner the government, against the back drop of meagre allocation provided to Polavaram by the Centre.

The YSRCP has decided to take on the government on the land pooling scheme in the CRDA and construction of new proposed capital and nail the government alleging it has forcefully took away the lands from the farmers, and engaging in real estate business in the name of construction of a state capital. Demands of farmers from some villages to give back their lands in the aftermath of Janasena chief Pawan Kalyna had further given enough ammunition to the main Opposition to harp on the issue. The YSRCP is also planning to raise the issues of hike in power tariff, sale of sand and fee reimbursement.