Noisy start for budget session

Noisy start for budget session

"Members come to blows; dishonour National Anthem"

Hyderabad: Exchange of blows, slogan shouting and dishonour to the National Anthem marred the first day of the budget session of the Telangana State Legislature on Saturday, which began with the address of Governor ESL Narasimhan to the joint session of the Assembly and the Council. Pandemonium prevailed in the house throughout the Governor’s speech which lasted close to 18 minutes, with opposition parties storming into the well raising slogans against the State government and the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi members obstructing them using force.

It all began when Assembly Speaker Madhusudana Chary and Council Chairman Swamy Goud were escorting the Governor to the podium. Trouble erupted with the TDP and Congress members holding placards raised slogans against the continuance of Talasani Srinivas Yadav and Tummala Nageshwar Rao, who had defected from TDP to TRS and were inducted into the TRS cabinet.

They demanded that the defectors be sacked under the existing anti-defection law. In an attempt to bulldoze the proceedings, the agitated TDP and the Congress members did not even bother to calm down and go back to their seats when the national anthem was being played before the commencement of the Governor’s address. They continued their slogan-shouting till the Governor reprimanded them and asked them to respect the National Anthem by stopping their slogan shouting.