War of words erupt between Harish, Eatala over office allotment

Finance Minister T Harish Rao and BJP MLA Eatala Rajender had a heated exchange over the allotment of an office to BJP members in the Assembly

Hyderabad: Finance Minister T Harish Rao and BJP MLA Eatala Rajender on Wednesday had a heated exchange over the allotment of an office to BJP members in the Assembly. While taking part in the debate on the Budget in the Assembly, Eatala complained to Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy that his party had not been allotted office space in the Assembly though he had represented the matter several times.

“The government is intentionally not allotting office to us. As members of the Assembly don’t we have the right to demand office space?” he asked. Harish Rao told him that offices were allotted to only parties that had at least five members and since the BJP had only three members, they were not eligible for the same.

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“You are a senior member of the House. You know all the rules. Why are you wasting the Assembly’s time? If you have any issues, you can contact the Speaker,” he said. Minister for Legislative Affairs Vemula Prashanth Reddy too took objection to Eatala raising the office issue, stating that such matters were not discussed in the House and advised him to take the same to the Speaker separately.

Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivas Reddy alleged the BJP MLA had raised the issue for the sake of publicity. “He knows the rules of the House, but just to make the issue public he is enacting all this drama,” he said. The Speaker asked Eatala to meet him in his chamber to discuss the issue.