Six opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLAs were suspended for the day on Friday by the Speaker as the Andhra Pradesh Assembly witnessed pandemonium on the fifth day of its Winter Session.
After Nimmala Ramanaidu, Bucchaya Choudary, Jogeshwara Rao, Satya Prasad, Ashok and Ramaraju were suspended on the last day of the session, opposition leader and former Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu also walked out of the House in protest.
Pandemonium prevailed as members discussed the dairy industry, with ruling and opposition legislators engaged in heated exchange of words.
Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy said that he had expected Naidu to be present during the discussion on the dairy industry but he unfortunately chose to let his party members storm the Speaker's podium and create chaos for selfish purposes.
Jagan alleged that the opposition leader had given media interviews and was spreading "falsehoods" after walking out of the House.
Meanwhile, Speaker Thammineni Seetharam objected to the conduct of opposition lawmakers in the Assembly. "Every day, you are blocking the House from functioning. I am sad to suspend you every day. Considering their behaviour, I have no other option," lamented Seetharam.
Ruling party whip Gadikota Srikanth Reddy complained that valuable time of the Assembly members was getting wasted daily, while voicing his displeasure over the TDP MLAs' conduct near the Speaker's seat.
The winter session of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly had commenced on Monday, and was adjourned sine die by Speaker Thammineni Seetharam on Friday. The House sat for five days and passed 19 Bills.
The Assembly also passed two resolutions, including one to defer the local body polls which have been postponed since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as differences between State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar and the ruling YSRCP.
The Speaker announced that the Assembly had worked for 39 hours and 4 minutes, and seven short discussions were held besides 59 speeches by members.