Andhra Pradesh House adjourns sine die amid confusion, chaos
Speaker criticised for suspending the winter session of assembly
Hyderabad: As the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly, totally divided on regional lines, was abruptly adjourned sine die Monday amid confusion and chaos, the state government has managed to buy considerable time to deal with the issue of moving the Telangana resolution in the House.
The winter session of the assembly, which was to continue until December 23, was adjourned sine die yesterday by Speaker Kiran Kumar Reddy as uncertainty persisted over the status of 140 MLAs from Andhra and Rayala Seema region who resigned in protest against the proposal of bifurcation of the state.
As the next session of the assembly will be due only at the end of February, the government will have a lot of time to chalk out its strategy and next move on the Telangana issue.
However, the 20 ministers from Andhra and Rayalaseema, who, too, had submitted their resignation two days ago, withdrew the move on the advice of Chief Minister K. Rosaiah. "The chief minister has informed us that our resignations have been rejected," said Municipal Administration Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy.
Conspiracy
TRS floor leader in Assembly Etela Rajender expressed resentment over the abrupt adjournment of the assembly. "This was the conspiracy of the Andhra and Rayalaseema leaders to prevent Telangana resolution coming before the House during the current session," he said. BJP and other parties also criticised the move of the Speaker but there was no objection from Congress.
There was also action and anxiety outside the House when the Congress MP from Vijayawad Lagadapati Rajagopal and several of his supporters were arrested by police soon after he landed in Hyderabad from New Delhi with the plans of fasting unto death.
As soon as he came out of the airport and a couple hundred supporters started following him with the slogans of "Jai Andhra," police stopped him and took him into preventive custody.
There were heated exchanges between the two sides as the MP insisted on meeting the chief minister. Later he was sent to the Pahadi Shareef Police station near the airport and was released on personal surety.
