Political Diary

Are the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, and the Leader of Opposition, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, responsible for disruption of Assembly proceedings?According to the BJP floor leader, Mr G. Kishan Reddy, tranquility prevailed in the House on Wednesday apparently because the two leaders were absent.While Dr Reddy is in New Delhi, Mr Naidu had skipped the initial part of the proceedings. The Assembly managed to get a lot of work done during the zero hour and the question hour. Reacting to the BJP member’s comment, the Speaker said the two leaders were important guiding forces for the Assembly and their presence was essential.However, later in the day, the agriculture minister, Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, caused some tension with his indirect reference to Mr Naidu. Responding to a debate on drought, the minister wondered how a person could earn Rs 2,000 crore out of just two acres of land.Maintaining that he was a farmer and owns 200 acres, the minister said most of his family revenue came from different business avenues. “I would like to learn the tricks of making thousands of crores of rupees from agriculture,” he said. Mr Naidu, who had come to the Assembly by then, got angry. He signalled his members to register a protest. The deputy Speaker, Mr N. Manohar, announced that the minister’s comments would not go into records.