JOIN USFour pro-Telangana MPs of the Congress did not spare their own party MP who was opposing the decision to carve out T-state from Andhra Pradesh by quoting a 1972 speech by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
Ponnam Prabhakar and other pro-Telangana members of the Congress first waged a war of words with Telugu Desam Party MP Nama Nageswara Rao and then tried to interrupt their party colleague V Arun Kumar, who protested against the move to create the new state.
The pro-Telangana MPs did not stop even after Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who was in the front row of the treasury benches, signalled them to calm down. Later, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Girija Vyas, All India Congress Committee General Secretary Mukul Wasnik rushed to restrain them.
Referring to the situation in coastal Andhra and Rayalseema in the wake of the move to create Telangana state, Arun Kumar said: “For more than 30 days, life has been paralysed, schools, offices and shops have not opened.” He was apparently referring to a speech made by Indira Gandhi in the House in 1972 to oppose the move to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.
Speaker Meira Kumar cut short the chaos by asking Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP T R Baalu to speak.