Suspended Telugu Desam Party MLAs addressing the media outside of Assembly premises, at Velagapudi on Friday.
| Photo Credit: G.N. RAO
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislators were on Friday suspended for the day from the Legislative Assembly following their protest at the Speaker’s podium during a general discussion on the Budget.
As per schedule, opposition party MLA Yeluri Sambasiva Rao reacted on the Budget for around 17 minutes, in which he said there was a mismatch between the numbers presented an the ground reality.
Later, Speaker Thammineni Seetharam gave an opportunity to YSR Congress Party MLA Kona Raghupathi to express his opinion.
At this juncture, the TDP MLAs requested the Chair to allow the Opposition to debate on the issue for at least 30 minutes.
Responding, the Speaker said the TDP had already utilised the time allocated to it. Expressing displeasure over the insufficient time, the TDP MLAs rushed to the podium and raised slogans demanding additional time.
After heated exchange of words between the Treasury and Opposition leaders, the Speaker gave permission to Mr. Sambasiva Rao to conclude the discussion in a couple of minutes.
Later, stating that the TDP was not concluding its debate, the Speaker allowed Mr. Raghupathi to speak.
Opposing it, the TDP leaders surrounded the podium for the second time, and demanded that additional time be allocated to them.
Meanwhile, Legislative Affairs Minister Buggana Rajendranath and the Speaker suggested them to take their seats.
As the TDP leaders were reluctant, the government moved a motion for suspending the TDP members from the House for the day.
TDP MLAs K. Atchannaidu, A. Bhavani, N. Chinarajappa, B. Ashok, D. Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy and others raised slogans against the government while coming out of the House.
Later, the Speaker said that it had been decided to have general discussion for 120 minutes on the Budget. As per the strength of the political parties, 100 minutes were allocated to the Treasury benches, 17 minutes to the TDP and 3 minutes to the Jana Sena Party.
Despite the schedule, he said he allowed the TDP leaders to speak for about 25 minutes, but they were still demanding extra time, forcing the House to take action against them.
