Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly witnessed high drama for the second day on Saturday as YSR Congress MLA R K Roja was barred entry even as her party colleagues created a din inside the House over the issue.
Roja, MLA from Nagari in Chittoor district, obtained an interim order from the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad two days ago against her suspension from the Assembly for one year but the Legislature Secretary challenged the single judge’s order before a division bench.
Refusing to implement the court order, the ruling Telugu Desam has chosen to prevent the YSRC MLA’s entry into the House.
Assembly Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao announced on Friday that it was the House that suspended Roja for a year and hence it was for the same House to take a fresh decision on the High Court’s interim order. He posted the matter for discussion in the Assembly to Monday.
The House was abruptly adjourned for the day amid noisy scenes created by the lone Opposition party after the formality of moving the demands for (budgetary) grants related to three departments was completed.
Roja, who sat on a protest at the Gandhi statue on the Assembly premises, was shifted to Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, as she suffered dehydration. Her blood pressure and sugar levels dropped, following which doctors shifted her to hospital in an ambulance.
Meanwhile, the YSRC decided to file a contempt petition in the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad against the Speaker’s decision.
“As the contempt petition will come up for hearing in the court, we will boycott the Assembly on Monday,” YSRC president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy said after leading his party legislators on a foot March from the Assembly to Tank Bund, one kilometre away, where they cleansed B R Ambedkar’s statue with milk.
Jagan found fault with the Speaker’s claim in the House yesterday that the motion to suspend Roja from the House for a year (on December 18, 2015) was adopted unanimously.
“Our 67 MLAs opposed the motion. How can the Speaker say the motion was adopted by the House unanimously,” Jagan questioned. “The ruling TDP is making a mockery of the judiciary. It is atrocious that the Legislature is not honouring the High Court verdict,” Jagan said.
“How ridiculous it is that the legislature is seeking to review a court order,” Jagan remarked, referring to the Speaker’s decision on Roja’s issue. For the second consecutive day, Roja was prevented from entering into the House even as her party colleagues came to the Assembly wearing black clothes in protest. Inside the House, the YSRC members stormed the Speaker’s podium raising slogans like “we want justice”, causing a din.
Some members even surrounded the Speaker as he took up Question Hour. The Question Hour continued for about half an hour amid the din but as the opposition members continued with their slogan-shouting, Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao adjourned the proceedings for ten minutes.
Order did not restore when the House reassembled, leading to a second adjournment. The third time, the Speaker rushed through the proceedings even as the opposition members continued with their protest and, after the demands were moved, adjourned the House till Monday.
As Roja walked into the Assembly premises along with fellow women MLAs of YSRC, the marshals stopped her from proceeding beyond Gate 2. (PTI)
