Legislative Assembly Speaker Thammineni Seetharam on Wednesday suspended 11 Telugu Desam Party MLAs for the day as they trooped into the well of the House pressing for a discussion on the “death of over 25 persons” at Jangareddygudem in West Godavari which, they insisted, were due to the government’s failure in cracking down on the sale of cheap liquor.
They alleged that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had misled the members by claiming that the deaths were natural, and sought an explanation for registering cases if the deaths were caused by illness.
An adjournment motion moved by the TDP MLAs for a debate on the subject was rejected by Mr. Seetharam, who said it was a misfortune to have MLAs who treated the Speaker with disdain and would not pay heed to his advice.
“I repeatedly told you to take your seats and not create a ruckus, but you don’t seem to be bothered. Had anyone else been the Speaker, you would not be spared,” Mr. Seetharam said.
As the TDP MLAs continued their protest, Minister K. Kannababu and Kapu Ramachandra Reddy, and some other YSRCP MLAs stood up and said it had become a habit for the opposition party MLAs to politicise the deaths whenever any incident happened, and demanded that action be taken against them for wasting the time of the House.
As the TDP MLAs kept raising slogans, the Speaker suspended them upon a motion to that effect being moved by Deputy Chief Minister K. Narayanaswamy. The expelled MLAs then walked out and, while doing so, some of them indulged in an exchange of words with the ruling party MLAs.
