Telangana legislators on sit-in evicted from Andhra assembly

Security personnel of Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly Thursday night evicted legislators from Telangana who were on a sit-in in the house for eight hours to protest the speaker's action in adjourning the house without debate on the Telangana bill.

Marshals bodily lifted the protesting lawmakers belonging to Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). They were forcibly shifted to police vehicles and dropped at their respective offices.

The legislators began the sit-in after Speaker N. Manohar adjourned the house till Jan 3.

They alleged that the speaker deliberately adjourned the house to prevent any debate on Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013, aimed at creation of a separate Telangana state.

TRS floor leader E. Rajender alleged that the speaker had joined hands with Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu to adjourn the house without debate.

TDP leader from Telangana E. Dayakar Rao termed the speaker's action "unconstitutional". He said the speaker had shown disregard for a bill sent by the president for the assembly's opinion.

He pointed out that as per the schedule announced earlier, the session should have continued till Friday.

The bill could not be taken up for debate for last four days due to protests by legislators from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions opposing state's bifurcation.

The bill, tabled on Dec 12, has to be sent back to the president with the legislators' opinion by Jan 23.