Congress walks out of House over Speaker’s attitude

Hyderabad: The Congress staged a walkout from the Assembly on Saturday protesting the attitude of the Speaker P Srinivasa Reddy towards the opposition during the debate on bills. The leader of the opposition Bhatti Vikramarka demanded the Speaker to adjourn the debate on the Telangana Panchayat Raj Amendment Bill. He said that the bill has lot of implications for the state and it should be debated thoroughly.

However, the Speaker refused and went on to continue the bill passing procedure. With this the irate Congress MLAs walked out of the Assembly. The Assembly passed the PR Amendment Bill. The Assembly has also passed the bill on GST amid the arguments between the government and opposition members. Later addressing the media, Vikramarka said that the attitude being adopted by the Speaker has been indicating a threat to the democracy in the state. He said that the Speaker has ignored the procedures and practices of the Assembly.

He made it clear that the government and the opposition have equal responsibility. He said that the government has bulldozed the opposition with its brute power. Vikramarka said that with the passing of the amendment to the PR Act the government has sealed the fate of the reservations to the backward communities. He said that other states would take this as example and would deny the reservations to the BCs.

He said that the Speaker has gone ahead with the procedure of passing the bill even not answering the questions raised by the opposition members. He said that the issue would be raised in the Assembly on Monday.