Andhra state assembly plunges in pnademonium

Hyderabad, Feb 11 (PTI) The state assembly of India's
southern state of Andhra Pradesh was Wednesday plunged in
pandemonium after 46 Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs)
including Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Chandrababu Naidu
were suspended for stalling proceedings and one of them tried
to snatch the Speaker's microphone.

As the Opposition legislators were physically bundled
out of the assembly, they clashed with marshals leaving two of
them injured.

The two injured members were among the MLAs belonging
to the TDP, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Communist Party
of India (CPI) and CPI(Marxist) who faced disciplinary action
after they continued to persist with their demand for a debate
on alleged money laundering by Sandur Power Company and 12
other subsidiaries promoted by Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara
Reddy's son Jaganmohan Reddy.

Speaker K R Suresh Reddy adjourned the proceedings
twice to restore normalcy but to no avail. He then named the
protesting members and asked Legislative Affairs Minister K
Rosaiah to move a resolution for their suspension.
Accordingly, Rosaiah moved the motion which was carried by
voice vote.

When the suspended MLAs refused to vacate the House,
the marshals tried to physically remove them resulting in TDP
MLA Vem Narender Reddy sustaining an injury on his right wrist
while his party colleague Payyavula Keshav suffered a head
injury. A glass door broke in the melee.

Rosaiah, however, later told the Assembly that the two
TDP MLAs did not receive any injuries and they were only
trying to cover-up their crime of assaulting the marshals in
the House.

He said "these things should not be repeated. It is a
very bad day in the history of AP legislature".

Voicing his dismay, the Speaker said "the way things
have happened, it is definitely shameful. I condemn such
incidents".

Naidu claimed that the MLAs were "manhandled" by the
marshals. "It is very unfair, it is very bad for the assembly,
he told reporters.

By the time the resolution for their suspension was
passed, the protesting TDP MLAs resumed their seats but the
Speaker asked them to leave the House.

As the TDP members stayed put, the Speaker called the
marshals in to evict the MLAs.

Amid the din, the Speaker first ordered that live
telecast of the proceedings be stopped and then adjourned the
House for some time.

On Tuesday, the Mayawati-Mulayam political battle
spilled on to the UP assembly with Samajwadi Party MLAs
disrupting Governor T V Rajeshwar's address accusing him of
acting at the behest of the ruling BSP.

In scenes that were grim reminders of the 1997 incident,
the MLAs threw paper balls at the Governor, climbed on top of
chairs and tables and raised slogans.PTI DBV