BRS MLAs walk out, to boycott rest of the winter session
Blame CM’s ‘undemocratic’ behavior; Speaker’s ‘unilateral conduct’
Hyderabad: Protesting Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's “undemocratic and indecent behavior” as well as Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar’s “one-sided approach”, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi legislators on Friday not only walked out of the House en masse, but also announced that they would completely boycott the rest of the session. After walking out from the Assembly, the BRS leaders marched towards the Martyrs Memorial at Gun Park.
Speaking to the media later, party leader T Harish Rao decried the Speaker's “unilateral conduct” in the Legislative Assembly and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's “undemocratic and indecent behavior”.
The BRS leader said that the Legislative Assembly was being conducted in complete disregard of democratic values.
“We were made to wait for an hour and a half at the BAC meeting and were insulted. In that meeting, we clearly decided that the Assembly would run for seven days, and then we would meet again to decide the subsequent schedule. However, the minutes presented in the Assembly contained false information, stating that the number of days the Assembly would run was left to the ‘Speaker’s discretion’, Harish Rao said.
The BRS leader alleged that the Speaker was not conducting the Assembly as a custodian, but unilaterally. He said that it was the responsibility of BRS as an opposition party to question the government on public issues in the Assembly. “When there were 10 questions listed for the Question Hour, our microphones were switched off when we tried to question the government. Didn’t Rahul Gandhi criticise Prime Minister Modi in Parliament? Then why are they switching off our microphones when we question the Chief Minister here?
What kind of practice is it for the Speaker to tell us that we shouldn’t criticise the Chief Minister? If the Opposition is not allowed to speak, then why have the Assembly at all? Why were we invited? Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s words have become more foul-smelling than the stench of the Musi River. Before cleaning up the Musi, there is a need to cleanse the Chief Minister’s mouth”, Harish Rao remarked.
Alleging that the Chief Minister was engaging in body shaming in the Assembly, Harish Rao said that Revanth was behaving like a street thug, not like a Chief Minister. “We are ready for a discussion on the Musi River. Schedule a short discussion; we will discuss it all day. But how can the Chief Minister come during Question Hour and speak nonsensically for an hour and a half?” he questioned. The Speaker, who is supposed to provide equal rights to everyone in the House, is acting with bias, he added.
