Andhra Assembly disrupted again over Telangana

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh assembly remained paralysed and no business could be conducted in the house for the second consecutive day on Saturday as some ruling party legislators joined the chorus for a separate state.

Members of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalled the proceedings, demanding the house to pass a resolution for carving out a separate Telangana state.

Deputy Speaker Nadendla Manohar adjourned the house till Monday, after his repeated appeals to members to allow smooth conduct of the proceedings fell on deaf ears.

Earlier, he adjourned the house twice as TRS and BJP legislators continued to stand near the speaker's podium, raising slogans of "Jai Telangana" and "We want Telangana".

The ruling party had to face embarrassment as 13 of its legislators from Telangana also raised slogans standing at their seats and displayed placards, demanding introduction of a bill in parliament for formation of a separate state. The placards also carried pictures of party president Sonia Gandhi.

The legislators had on Friday staged a similar protest in the house, joining the TRS, BJP, the Communist Party of India and Telangana legislators from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). No business could be conducted in the house on Friday.

As soon as the house met on Saturday, the pro-Telangana members rushed to the podium, demanding a resolution on Telangana.

Minister for Legislative Affairs D. Sridhar Babu and government chief whip Mallu Batti Vikramarka appealed to members to allow the house to take up important public issues.

The deputy speaker first adjourned the house for half an hour. When the house reassembled, there was no let-up in the pandemonium, forcing him to adjourn the house again. For the third time, he adjourned the house till Monday.

The budget session of the assembly began on February 17 amid unprecedented protests by TRS and TDP members from the Telangana region, who disrupted Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan's address to the joint session of both houses. Five of the legislators were later suspended for a week for their unruly behaviour.

The house had passed motion of thanks on the governor's address without debate Tuesday while Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy Wednesday presented the budget amid pandemonium.