14 TDP MLAs suspended from AP Assembly for protesting Naidu’s arrest

Pandemonium broke out in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Thursday with TDP MLAs along with a rebel YSRCP MLA Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy staging a protest at the Speaker’s podium following rejection of the adjournment motions moved by them decrying the arrest of Leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu in the alleged skill development scam and demanding withdrawal of the charges against him.

They rushed to the Speaker’s podium as soon as the members assembled for the first day of the winter session, tore some papers, threw them in the air and indulged in slogan-shouting creating noisy scenes. In the din that followed, nothing was audible forcing Speaker Tammineni Sitharama, who was in the Chair, to adjourn the House for sometime.

When the pleas of Legislative Affairs Minister Buggana Rajendranath and others to restore order in the House fell on deaf ears, he later moved a resolution for suspension of 14 TDP MLAs and the lone rebel MLA from YSRCP. Similar scenes were also witnessed in the Legislative Council.

Led by State president K Atchan Naidu, the TDP MLAs earlier came in a padayatra to the Assembly to attend the winter session. Waving placards, they raised slogans demanding the release of TDP national president Naidu from Rajamahendravaram prison, where he has been lodged after he was remanded to judicial custody by the ACB court after CID named him in the Rs 371-crore skill development scam. Rajendranath said there was no point in creating scenes and obstructing the proceedings when the ruling party had promised to allow a detailed discussion on the scam.

Stalemate continued in the House as the Opposition MLAs surrounded the Assembly Speaker, tore papers and engaged in slogan-shouting at the top of their voice. Their pleas for suspension of the Question Hour was turned down outright by the Speaker.

When TDP MLA Balakrishna twirled his moustache, Irrigation Minister Ambati Rambabu told him that he should maintain decorum of the House and refrain from indulging in such gesticulations. “Remember, Assembly is not a cinema,” he told the actor-son of late NT Rama Rao, the founder of TDP.

Ministers Botcha Satyanarayana, Gudivada Amarnath, and others later said the YSRCP was ready for a comprehensive discussion on the multi-crore skill development corporation scam in which Naidu has been made an accused in the FIR registered by CID. Tourism Minister RK Roja told at the media point that the TDP members were stalling the business of the House by taking recourse to rowdyism after knowing that they had booked a case against Naidu in the skill development scam with ‘proper evidence.’