Date:03/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/03/stories/2008040355520600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Bedlam over Naidu’s remarks against Deputy Speaker

Special Correspondent

He was said to have accused Kutuhalamma, a SC woman, of being unfit to run the House
Naidu denies having made any such comment

HYDERABAD: Events took a totally unexpected turn during the no confidence debate in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday when Leader of Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu found himself in the dock for his remarks against Deputy Speaker G. Kutuhalamma, a Scheduled Caste member, while she was conducting the proceedings.

There was absolute bedlam as a large delegation of Ministers, women and SC members of the Congress later petitioned Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and Speaker K. R. Suresh Reddy to have Mr. Naidu booked under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and expel him from the House for his remarks against Ms. Kutuhalamma.

They accused Mr. Naidu of saying that the Deputy Speaker was unfit to run the House and that the Speaker should come to the House. He threatened to stall the proceedings till Mr. Suresh Reddy took over the proceedings. His contention was that he would get his right to reply to the debate only at midnight unless the Speaker came and took a decision on his plea.

Inside the House earlier, Telugu Desam members rushed to the podium raising slogans. Dr. Kutuhalamma announced adjournment of the House for ten minutes. She later expressed her wish to put in her papers over the “humiliation meted out” to her by the Opposition leader. In a related development, Marketing Minister M. Mareppa launched a flash hunger strike at the Gandhi statue in the Assembly promises.

Mr. Naidu procured a CD of the proceedings and showed it to Opposition leaders and the media and said it clearly showed he did not make any disparaging remark against Ms. Kutuhalamma, let alone addressing her disrespectfully in the singular.