JOIN USIn a spill over from the previous week, the Andhra Pradesh assembly remained paralysed Tuesday with opposition parties insisting on a debate on the liquor syndicate and Telangana issues.
Speaker N. Manohar had to adjourn the house as the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and other opposition parties stalled the proceedings.
As soon as the house met after a three-day break, TDP and TRS members trooped into the well of the house and surrounded the speaker's podium. While TDP wanted the house to take up a debate on Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) raids on liquor syndicates and the alleged involvement of some ministers, the TRS demanded a resolution for carving out a separate Telangana state.
Holding placards and raising slogans, the opposition members stalled proceedings. Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) members also pressed for a debate on alleged police harassment of Muslim youth while the Communist Party of India-Marxist wanted to raise the issue of an attack on its leader P. Madhu by MIM workers.
When repeated appeals by the speaker failed to restore order in the house, he adjourned the house for half-an-hour.
Protesting the adjournment, TDP members later squatted outside the speaker's chamber, demanding that he run the house.
TRS leader E. Rajender said they would not allow the government to run the house till it withdraws cases booked against students for participating in the Telangana movement and fulfils the promises made to government employees in the Telangana region after they called off a 42-day-long strike last year.
The speaker has convened a meeting of leaders of all parties to seek their cooperation in ensuring smooth functioning of the house. The budget session began Feb 13 but the house could not take up any business due to protests by the opposition.