MPs meet speaker, say Telangana bill not introduced

A group of Lok Sabha MPs Thursday met Speaker Meira Kumar and said they did not agree that the Telangana bill was introduced in the house.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Samajwadi Party, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Trinamool Congress leaders met the speaker after the bill was introduced amid ruckus and violent protests.

According to sources, the members told the speaker that the bill should again be introduced.

"Our stand is that the bill should be introduced in the right way," CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta, who was among the MPs who met the speaker, told IANS.

He, however, refused to divulge the details of the conversation.

Samajwadi Party leader Shailendra Kumar told IANS his party did not agree with the way the bill was introduced.

"Samajwadi Party leaders met the speaker and told her that we did not agree with the way the bill was introduced," he said.

Asked if the bill shall be introduced again following due procedure, he said "absolutely".

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj also questioned if the Telangana statehood bill was formally introduced in the Lok Sabha.

She said it did not happen as long as she was in the house.

"Until I was in the house, they had not even read an 'I' of introduction. I was in the house for a long time. I wanted to sit even after they used the spray, but the marshals told me the gas can be harmful and I should leave. I don't know when the speaker came, when the bill was introduced," she told reporters.

There was commotion and confusion in the Lok Sabha during introduction of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill for forming Telangana, as MPs were involved in clashes.

Expelled Congress MP L. Rajagopal used pepper spray, sending scores of MPs, officials and journalists in the media gallery running for cover, coughing violently and with a burning sensation in their eyes.

The government later said the bill was introduced.