* BRS members bringing placards into the House and staging protest holding them is against the rules

- D Sridhar Babu, Legislative Affairs Minister

metro india news  I hyderabad :

The Congress vs BRS face-off on various issues spilled over into the winter session of Telangana assembly too. BRS tried to corner the government on Lagacharla farmers’ arrests and handcuffing incident and pending bills to Sarpanches in Gram Panchayats.

After the House assembled post the BAC meeting, BRS members-led by T Harish Rao staged a protest holding newspaper clippings of police handcuffing action and arrests of Lagacharla farmers and sought a response from the government. Earlier the Speaker rejected the notice for adjournment motion on this subject by T Harish Rao and other BRS members. 

Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu, quoting the Assembly rules, took objection to BRS members bringing placards into the house and staging a protest with them. Despite Speaker G Prasad Kumar urging them to hand over the placards to the chair so that he could allow Harish Rao to speak, BRS members were in no mood to relent. 

At this juncture Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka intervened and said that BRS members’ actions were against rules of assembly. T Harish Rao, K T Rama Rao, Padi Kaushik Reddy and Palla Rajeshwar Reddy took to loud sloganeering with other BRS members adding their voice. While pandemonium prevailed in the house, Tourism Minister Jupally Krishna Rao, criticizing the BRS members actions, tried to initiate a short discussion on Telangana State Tourism Policy.  

The Speaker expressed disapproval of the members' behavior, stressing the importance of maintaining the dignity of the House. Despite repeated appeals to surrender their placards and return to their seats, the agitating BRS MLAs persisted in their protest. In response, the Speaker directed marshals to seize the placards and cautioned that members would only be permitted to speak if they adhered to the rules.

Undeterred, the BRS MLAs continued their protests and raised slogans and tried to go near the Speaker’s podium, prompting the Speaker to adjourn the session to Tuesday. Following the adjournment, the protesting members staged a sit-in at the Assembly entrance, holding on to their placards for some time.

Ruckus over pending bills to Sarpanches 

Soon after the house met on Monday after a week’s gap, BRS members demanded the government to give clarity on pending bills to Sarpanches in the state. Minister D Seethakka replied that pending bills to Sarpanches (whose term ended towards end of Jan.2024) amounting to Rs 691 crore was the legacy that they inherited from the previous BRS government, but still they are taking steps to clear the dues shortly. 

Noting that the pending bills is a phenomenon since 2014 (when BRS assumed power after formation of Telangana), the minister said she is ready to share the details with the BRS members. Harish Rao was Finance Minister during the BRS government, and he could have cleared the bills while in power, she said. The government is taking time to release the dues in view of the bad financial situation caused by the BRS regime, she said. Not satisfied with the minister’s reply, BRS members staged a walk-out.

After question hour, the government introduced two bills. On behalf of CM Revanth Reddy, Legislative Affairs Minister introduced The Young India Physical Education and Sports University of Telangana Bill and afterwards Health Minister Damodar Raj Narsimha introduced the Telangana Universities (Amendment) Bill 2024 pertaining to renaming the Telangana Mahila Vishwavidyalayam, Koti as Veeranari Chakali Ilamma Women’s University, orders for which were issued in October this year. This bill seeks to give effect to the above decision.