KTR, JANA ROW OVER DEFECTORS

It was Opposition leader K. Jana Reddy versus IT minister K.T. Rama Rao in Legislative Assembly on Monday.

Trouble began after Speaker S. Madhusudhana Chary allowed defected Congress MLA Puvvada Ajay, who had joined the TRS, to speak during a debate on the TS industrial policy.

Congress legislators raised strong objection over this and asked the Speaker to clarify on behalf of which party Mr Ajay was speaking.

They said the Speaker had set a bad precedent by doing so.

The Speaker said he had allowed Mr Ajay to speak as a member of the House. This triggered strong protests from Congress MLAs who raised slogans demanding disqualification of defected MLAs.

This angered Mr Rama Rao who said, “You have no right to talk on defections. While you were in power, you encouraged defections from TRS between 2004 and 2010. The then Speaker took over four years to take a decision on our disqualification petitions. All members have equal rights in the House. Speaker has the power to decide whom to be allowed to speak. You cannot question that.”

Mr Jana Reddy took strong exception to Mr Rao’s remarks. “That might have happened in Undivided AP. For that reason we have fought for Telangana with a hope that the things will change in new state. But you are going on the same path. Are your comments aimed to run the House smoothly or provoke Opposition members further?”

Mr Reddy said CLP would decide who would speak from the Congress side in the debate and this cannot be decided by the treasury benches or the Speaker.