By IANS
Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy tendered an unconditional apology in the state assembly Tuesday for allegedly passing a derogatory remark about opposition leader N. Chandrababu Naidu's mother.
While denying that he insulted Naidu's mother, the chief minister told the house that if Naidu felt hurt by what he said Monday, he was tendering an unconditional apology.
YSR, as the chief minister is popularly known, tendered the apology towards the end of his speech to deny the opposition's allegation of illegal iron ore mining in Obulapuram in Anantapur district.
"I have highest regard for motherhood. His mother is like my mother. I only said that after I expose him he would regret his birth. But if he thinks that I insulted him and passed derogatory remark about his mother, I am tendering an unconditional apology," he said.
The apology came hours after the legislators of the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were suspended from the House for the day for stalling the proceedings to demand the apology and Naidu's announcement that he would not attend the rest of the current session of the assembly.
"I am deeply hurt as he dragged my late mother into the debate and hence I have decided not to attend the House," Naidu told newsmen.
Denying the allegations of irregularities in granting mining lease to Obulapuram Mining Corporation (OMC), YSR offered to take an all-party delegation to the area.
The attempt by TDP leaders to visit the area without permission and their arrest Saturday had triggered the row in the house, leading to a personal attack by YSR on Naidu Monday.
YSR said the delegation would visit both the mines including the one that was leased out by Naidu's government in 2002. "We will also take the delegation to Brahmini steel factory, my son's cement factory and even my estate in Kadpa," he told the opposition parties.
Brahmini Steel factory is being set up by G. Janardhan Reddy, who also owns OMC. The steel plant is being set up at a cost of Rs.200 billion in Kadpa, YSR's native district.
The TDP has alleged that since Janardhan Reddy, a member of the Karnataka Legislative Council, is a close friend of YSR, several irregularities were committed in allotment of 10,000 acres of land and the project's approval.
YSR appealed to Naidu not to scare investors away by making wild allegations. He said TDP "rowdies" Tuesday attacked Janardhan Reddy's house in Hyderabad.
Police also arrested TDP leaders and activists who were trying to march towards assembly building to protest YSR's remark.
Meanwhile, Janardhan Reddy has filed a defamation suit against Naidu and two others in a court in Anantapur district.
Earlier, TDP legislators raised the matter as soon as the assembly met and rushed towards the speaker's podium shouting, "We want an apology". The speaker first adjourned the house for 10 minutes and when protests continued after the house reassembled, he suspended 30 legislators for one day.
The chief minister later said he made the remark against Naidu because he had made many derogatory remarks against the speaker and brought up wild allegations against his government.
"His party is misleading people and making baseless allegations that we siphoned off millions of rupees while the fact is that it was Naidu who had given lease for mining in Obulapuram in 2002," he said.