Date:21/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/21/stories/2006122106280600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

40 Telugu Desam Party members suspended again

Special Correspondent

Demand discussion on YSR's land issue; stage dharna

HYDERABAD: Forty Telugu Desam Party members, including Leader of the Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu, were suspended from the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday when they again persisted with their demand for a discussion on Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy's lands during zero hour.

Though the suspension was revoked within half an hour following an appeal by other opposition members, TDP men chose not to attend the House. Wearing black badges, they staged a dharna in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue on the Assembly premises.

Congress members protested when N. Janardhan Reddy (TDP) began his zero hour mention by saying that the Chief Minister possessed 2,540 acres and not 1,000 acres as declared in the Assembly on Monday. Speaker K. R. Suresh Reddy told him that the issue would not be allowed as it was debated for three days. Even as he warned that such "misuse" would not be tolerated, several TDP members rushed to the podium and argued with the chair saying this was a new issue.

Describing their behaviour as "unpardonable," the Speaker sought to remind them that the floor leaders had agreed to complete the listed business at the meeting held earlier. Stating that the TDP did not want the House to function, Legislative Affairs Minister K. Rosaiah moved the motion for suspending the party members.

Marshals remove MLAs

Some of the TDP members had to be removed by Marshals. When one of the TDP members threw the earphone while being bodily lifted by the marshal, the Speaker said the damage would be recovered from him. Earlier, the House was adjourned for more than an hour when members of the CPI, the TRS and the TDP stalled question hour after the Speaker rejected their respective adjournment notices.