The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLAs were suspended from the House for a day on Thursday. It is for the fourth consecutive day that the TDP MLAs were suspended in Assembly during the current winter session.
Also, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy moved a privilege motion against TDP MLA Nimmala Rama Naidu for “misleading the House by distorting facts” over the issue of granting pensions to various sections of people. Subsequently, Speaker Tammineni Sitaram referred the issue to the Privileges Committee of the Legislature.
A short discussion on Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) led to noisy scenes, cross talk, challenges and counter-challenges. Mr. Rama Naidu alleged that Mr. Jagan, after coming to power, had gone back on his pre-election promise that if YSRCP was voted to power, he would give ₹3,000 per month to the pensioners and asked why they were giving only ₹2,200 per month.
The Chief Minister at this juncture intervened and rebutted the lies alleged by TDP members over the distribution of pension amounts. He also requested the Chair to play the video clip of his padayatra in Visakhapatnam which the TDP was referring to. Mr. Jagan maintained that it has become a habit for the TDP to tell lies despite clarifying the same in the House. The padayatra video clip was played and explained in the last session also, he pointed out.
Later, as the Ministers reacted and expressed their views, the issue got diverted and turned into a discussion on the dairy sector — the government’s MoU with the Amul. The YSRCP MLAs and ministers alleged that Leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu was opposing Amul as he feared that it would be a death knell to his company Heritage. It led to vociferous reaction from the Opposition benches.
As the Speaker denied mike, they climbed up to the podium, entered into an argument with the Chair. They also raised slogans. Following which, the TDP MLAs were suspended.
