KCR, Kishan Reddy at logger heads in Assembly

    Hyderabad: In a possible sign of things to come in the State between Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the weeks and months ahead, the two sides locked horns for a while in the Legislative Assembly here on Tuesday over the issue of unruly behaviour by Congress members in the State Assembly and the protests by TRS members in Parliament.

BJP floor leader G Kishan Reddy wanted to know if it was okay for TRS members in Parliament to rush into the Well of the House holding placards and demonstrating while similar protests here in the Assembly were being looked down upon by the Treasury benches.

Kishan Reddy was speaking after the expulsion of two Congress MLAs and suspension of 11 others from the State Legislature for the entire Budget session.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao was quick on his feet asking if the BJP supported anarchy and if it does, then his party had no problem with that. The Chief Minister said: “We cannot speak about MPs here unless we first give a notice to the Speaker and take his permission.”

He also said nobody was breaking microphones or throwing papers at the Chair. “Out of the 500-odd MPs in the House (Lok Sabha), we have about 14 members,” he said, adding that this small group of members may have chosen to make their voices heard by protesting so that their voices are not lost among similar protests by members of other parties from other States.

Kishan Reddy responded by stating that such levels of impatience from the Treasury benches was not good and neither was the “bulldozing” of those critical of the government. When his microphone was cut for a few seconds and restored, Kishan Reddy said: “Am I abusing anyone? If Parliament actions are a benchmark, all I am saying is that we should take these (protests in the Lok Sabha) also into consideration.”

Kishan Reddy also suggested that Congress MLA and Leader of Opposition K Jana Reddy’s suspension be revoked.