Marshals violating protocol, harassing MLCs: TDP to AP Legislative Council chairman

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Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLCs on Wednesday alleged that the marshals of the House are "harassing" them and are also "internally discriminating" against the members of the Council as compared with the members of the Assembly.

"They seem to be following the instructions of the Speaker whose jurisdiction is limited only to the Legislative Assembly. As both the Houses are different and headed by Hon'ble Speaker and Hon'ble Chairman respectively, the decisions of the Speaker should be limited only to the Assembly and not to the Council," the TDS MLCs stated in a letter to Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Chairman Shariff Mohammed Ahmed.

"In spite of strong protest by the TDP members yesterday similar incident of harassment and humiliation of lady members was repeated today. The marshals have closed the gate on us and snatched the material and papers from us forcibly and misbehaved with lady members. We strongly demand immediate action and suspension of the Chief Marshal," the letter read.

The agitated TDP MLCs also claimed that "passes were being issued to the Assembly members and not given for the Council members visitors".

"Hence we request the Hon'ble Chairman to make the staff accountable to the Council and Assembly separately and protect the rights and privileges of the members of the Legislative Council," the letter further read.

In another letter to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Chairman, the TDP MLCs also raised objections for not allowing some media houses to attend the Council and demanded a separate media point in the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly.

"The Speaker has instructed three media houses not to be allowed into the Legislature complex. The action should be limited to only the Assembly and has no relevance to the Legislative Council. Hence we request the Hon'ble Chairman to allow all media houses to cover the happenings in the Legislative Council and the rulings of the Speaker should only be limited to the Assembly," the letter read.