Hyderabad: The opposition Telugu Desam Party in Telangana has given a call for a statewide strike on Tuesday in protest against the apathy of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti government on the problems of farmers in the state.

The TDP’s strike call came on the day when the entire opposition, barring MIM, was suspended from the state assembly for the remaining period of the monsoon session.

Assembly Speaker Madhusudhana Chary announced the suspension of 32 members of Congress, the TDP and the Bharatiya Janata Party for stalling the proceedings of the House demanding further discussions on debt waiver for farmers in the context of farmer suicides.

Meanwhile, in the Legislative Council, Chairman Swamy Goud suspended six opposition members when they waved placards in the House on the issue. They include five from Congress and one from the BJP.

The trouble broke out as soon as the House met after the three-day recess when the opposition members rushed to Speaker’s podium demanding the resumption of the debate, which the government said had concluded on Wednesday evening with the reply of the agriculture minister.

When all the pleas of the Speaker to restore the order fell on deaf ears, Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao moved a resolution to suspend the 32 members. After the Speaker’s action, the suspended members refused to leave the House and Marshals were called in to carry them out. Two members of Communist Party of India, one of YSRCP and one independent member were among those suspended.

“The 32 members are suspended for the remaining period of the monsoon session”, the Speaker said. There was no scope for further discussion as the House had already discussed the issue for 13 hours and the government had already made a statement on the measures it had taken to deal with the problem, he said.

The leader of opposition K. Jana Reddy termed the suspension an undemocratic act aimed at throttling the voice of the opposition parties.

TDP floor leader E Dayakar Rao wondered what would the Assembly discuss in the absence of the opposition. The BJP floor leader K Lakshman said it was the darkest day in the history of Telangana assembly.

Later Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao told the House that the government has already made a statement on how it intends to deal with the farmers’ suicide. “As per the decision taken by the Business Advisory Committee, the House discussed the issue for two days”, he said adding the opposition was deliberately stalling the House.

Telangana Telugu Desam President L Ramanna said that on the day of the strike effigies of the government will be burnt in each of the 119 assembly constituencies to protest against its failure in helping the farmers.

TDP’s Dayakar Rao said all the opposition parties will wage a united fight against the government on the issues of the farmers.