War of words in Assembly over land scam and illegal mining allegations

A heated exchange broke out in the Telangana Assembly as BRS legislators cornered Kadiyam Srihari over his political stance. The debate intensified over alleged land and mining issues, leading to sharp arguments and tense scenes in the House

Hyderabad: The Telangana Assembly was witness to an interesting development in which BRS legislators managed to corner Ghanpur legislator Kadiam Srihari in a fierce war of words on Sunday. Srihari had won on a BRS ticket but switched over to the Congress, but as per the Speaker’s decision on the anti-defection petition, he continues to be a BRS member.

The argument between the Treasury and Opposition benches reached a flashpoint after Kadiyam Srihari supported Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s offer to order a House Committee probe into an alleged land scam in Balanagar mandal of Mahabubnagar district. What prompted Revanth Reddy to bring up the Balanagar issue was the persistent demand of the BRS members for a House Committee probe into the alleged illegal mining involving Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy.

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As pandemonium prevailed in the House following arguments, the Chief Minister launched a counterattack on BRS members by mentioning the Balanagar scam. It was then that Srihari jumped to his feet to support the Chief Minister’s offer, but the BRS members began questioning him on which party he belonged to.

Srihari tried to put up a fight, accusing the BRS members of being fear-stricken. “Hundreds of acres were occupied by misusing the Dharani portal. Those responsible were now shamelessly raising slogans,” he charged, drawing sharp protests from the Opposition BRS members who sought to know about his party affiliation.

Trying to ignore the questions from BRS members, Srihari pointed out that the Chief Minister had categorically said company owners were threatened and their lands were occupied through misuse of power and the Dharani system. He urged the Speaker G Prasad Kumar to order a House Committee probe.

Tensions flared further and the war of words soon developed into gesticulations when Congress MLAs objected to gestures made by Huzurabad MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy towards Srihari.

It was at this juncture that the Treasury benches succeeded in making it an issue. The Chief Minister was quick to point out that such behaviour was inappropriate and harmed the dignity of the House. Referring to Ramagundam MLA Raj Thakur, he said, “Congress too has strong leaders who can topple people and hit them to the ground. But we are not in the House to engage in physical fights.”