Political Diary

The Telugu Desam, the main Opposition party, Telugu Desam, appealed to the Speaker to move a resolution on suspending Raghuveera Reddy as well as Health Minister Danam Nagender from the House for making `comments’ against them. TDP members staged a sit-in in the well of the House demanding dismissal of the agriculture minister from the Cabinet and an apology from him to their leader.

The agriculture minister’s reply to a question on services of model farmers during question hour led to heated arguments between the Congress and TDP members.When TDP members interrupted his reply demanding that they be allowed to speak on the matter, the minister said the members were creating a nuisance.

Adding fuel to the fire, Nagender, without holding a mike, asked the agitating TDP members to `shut up’.This led to a ruckus amidst which the Speaker adjourned the House for 10 minutes.The embers of yesterday’s Raghuveera’s comments did not die even after the House reassembled after half an hour. When the TDP members persisted with their demand for an opportunity to speak, the Speaker urged both the ministers and members to show restraint for a smooth conduct of the proceedings.

``I don’t expect any running commentary from the members, specially from the ministers. Ministers should be more restrained,’’ the Speaker said.Referring to the two-day suspension of TDP member E Dayakar Rao from the Assembly recently, TDLP deputy leader P Ashok Gajapathi Raju urged the Speaker to take a similar action against the ministers concerned either by suspending them from the House or censoring them.

Irritated by the TDP member’s argument, Finance and Legislative Affairs Minister K Rosaiah dared the Opposition to move a resolution on their demand. He claimed that suspension of Dayakar Rao was not `one-sided’. He even threatened to leave the House if the Speaker did not stop members from making `running commentary’. ``We (Government) will not agree that the House should be run as per Opposition members’ wish,’’ he asserted.

Sensing further trouble in the House, the Speaker made it clear that he would not allow members of the two sides to speak on the issue.