Political parties denounce ruckus in Andhra Assembly

Hyderabad, Feb 11 : The "high-handedness" of marshals in dealing with opposition MLAs in Andhra Pradesh Assembly has evoked anger and widespread condemnation with all the parties strongly denouncing the incidents in the precincts of the House.

"It was a murder of democracy by the ruling Congress party," veteran MLA Chennamaneni Rajeshwara Rao remarked.

The marshals behaved like "goondas" and roughed up the MLAs besides abusing them, TRS MLA T Harish Rao alleged.

CPM MLA Julakanti Ranga Reddy said as many as eight marshals pounced on him and dragged him out of the House causing "internal" injuries. "They even snatched my cell phone," he said.

Women MLAs of the TDP were the worst hit as lady marshals indiscriminately manhandled them, party MLA Vem Narender Reddy, who too was injured in the attack, said.

"It was only when our women MLAs were manhandled that we started resisting the forcible eviction from the House. In the melee many of us lost our cell phones," he complained.

Meanwhile, the ruling Congress termed the action by opposition parties a "big drama" alleging the TDP MLAs of "assaulting" the officials on duty. "The opposition MLAs today brought disgrace to the Assembly. I have never ever come across such scenes since I became an MLA in 1968," Finance and Legislative Affairs Minister K Rosaiah said.

Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said, "One reason why members tend to misbehave in the House is because of the live telecast of Assembly proceedings. Most of the problem can be averted if live coverage is discontinued."

He proposed to reconsider the practise of live coverage of Assembly proceedings.

Deputy Speaker G Kuthuhalamma said a decision would be taken in this regard as per the views of majority legislators.

Expressing serious anguish over the incident, Speaker K R Suresh Reddy said that it was the "most shameful" incident. "We have to hang our heads in shame".

The Lok Satta Party, however, opposed the proposal to put an end to live TV coverage of Assembly proceedings in the state.

Though the live coverage made the political parties promote their political interests, it helped people evaluate their representatives, party leaders I Ramamurthy and J Geeta Murthy told reporters.

Meanwhile, Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party also condemned the unruly incidents in the Assembly. "The incidents are unfortunate and shameful," a party spokesman said.
(Source AJ)