The Telugu Desam Party Telangana State unit has charged the government with stifling the voice of the Opposition in the just-concluded winter session of the Legislative Assembly.
The TDP-TS legislature party has taken a strong objection to Speaker S. Madhusudhana Chary’s announcement that the TDP had only three members in the House. TDP-TS legislature party leader A. Revanth Reddy said the TDP-TS would file a contempt petition against the Speaker for making the announcement as the case of MLAs crossing-over to other parties was still pending with the High Court. “The ruling party has not honoured the High Court’s directive to take a decision on the issue within three months. The Speaker, however, made an announcement that the TDP had only three members in the House. We will file a contempt petition in the court in this regard,” he said.
Mr. Revanth Reddy said the Assembly proceedings were dominated by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his family members. Of the 95-hour discussions, the ruling party took 55 hours. The Chief Minister, his son K.T. Rama Rao and nephew T. Harish Rao spoke for more than 30 hours.
The ruling party sidelined Ministers in giving replies and the Chief Minister preferred to speak on their behalf or allowed his son and nephew to give answers to queries which did not pertain to their respective departments. “Not just the Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers Mahmood Ali and Kadiam Srihari were not allowed to give replies pertaining to their departments,” he said, alleging that the leaders were unaware of the developments in their respective departments as they were made “namesake Ministers”.
