Telangana Assembly winter session begins with rare show of bonhomie

The winter session of the Telangana Assembly began on a calm note, marked by a rare handshake between Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and BRS leader K Chandrashekhar Rao. Political heat rose later during Zero Hour discussions

Hyderabad: The winter session of the Telangana Assembly began on Monday, but the much-anticipated session was devoid of any fireworks. However, the session witnessed a rare instance of political bonhomie when Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy walked up to his sworn political opponent, BRS supremo and Leader of Opposition K Chandrashekhar Rao, with folded hands and shook hands with him, even as the Treasury and Opposition benches watched keenly.

The day began on a serene note as Chandrashekhar Rao, with a red shawl around his shoulders, walked into the House before the session began its business. As member after member walked in, Revanth Reddy also entered the House a few minutes later. After a moment, he walked up to the Opposition benches and shook hands with Chandrashekhar Rao.

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While the session was in progress, commotion began outside the Assembly building as members of the Telangana Sarpanches Joint Action Committee tried to barge into the Assembly precincts but were prevented by a police posse that outnumbered the protesters many times. The slogan-shouting sarpanches, who were demanding payment of arrears to gram panchayats, were bundled into vans and taken away.

The House proceedings began on a rather sedate note, with Speaker G Prasad Kumar announcing the suspension of Question Hour and that there would be a Zero Hour session after the condolence motions were moved. The House then took up condolence motions in respect of former Chevella legislator Konda Laxma Reddy and former Suryapet MLA Ramreddy Damodar Reddy.

The beginning of Zero Hour was also sedate, but soon sparks flew between the Treasury and Opposition benches as the main Opposition BRS party tried to corner the government on several issues. There were some shouts from the Treasury benches, but the BRS members stood their ground to pin the government on public issues such as alleged washing away of check dams, non-availability of urea for farmers and non-payment of pensionary benefits to retired employees.

Interestingly, the Chair also took part in the discussion on the simian menace when Dornakal MLA Ramchandar Naik brought the problem of monkeys and stray dogs to the notice of the government. “People are suffering due to monkeys and dogs,” the MLA said, eliciting a favourable response from the Chair. Speaker Prasad Kumar directed the government to initiate strict action to protect farmers from the monkey menace.

BRS members T Harish Rao, Padi Kaushik Reddy, K Venkatesh, Gangula Kamalakar, Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, Palla Rajeshwar Reddy and Kova Lakshmi succeeded in putting the government on the mat by highlighting public issues. At times, the Treasury benches raised serious objections and there was shouting when BRS members launched a broad attack on the government. When Kaushik Reddy observed that check dams were being washed away in his Huzurabad constituency, comparing them to the Medigadda barrage pillars, Treasury members sprang to their feet seeking to shout him down. Wardhannapet legislator K R Nagaraju argued that such unsupported claims should not be made in the Assembly and urged the Chair to expunge the remarks.

When Harish Rao rose to make a mention, Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu urged him to confine himself to a single issue during Zero Hour. Harish Rao countered him, saying that as a former Legislative Affairs Minister, he was aware of the rules. He also pointed out that the government should respond to Zero Hour mentions, as was done during the BRS rule. He listed problems faced by pensioners due to non-release of retirement benefits and issues faced by policemen who were allegedly denied the Bhadrata health scheme. Sridhar Babu said he had noted the points raised.

Finally, Vemulawada MLA Aadi Srinivas raised issues related to Gulf workers and stressed the need for more funds in the coming annual budget. The Congress MLA then appealed for sanction of a 50-bed hospital in his constituency. When he was about to raise another issue, Harish Rao asked Sridhar Babu whether the rule of raising only one issue during Zero Hour applied only to Opposition members. The Legislative Affairs Minister immediately signalled the Congress MLA to stop and take his seat.

The House was then adjourned with the announcement that it would meet on January 2 at 10 am.