By IANS
Hyderabad : All members of the opposition Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly were suspended Thursday from the house till Feb 18 for stalling the proceedings to demand adoption of a resolution seeking separate statehood to Telangana region.
Speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy announced suspension of all 13 members present in the house after Minister for Legislative Affairs K. Rosaiah moved a resolution in this regard.
As the members continued to stand near the speaker’s podium shouting slogans of ‘Jai Telangana’, the speaker called in marshals to physically lift the members out of the house.
The TRS members later staged a sit-in in the lobbies for some time and later at Telangana martyrs’ memorial in front of the assembly building.
As soon as the house met for the day, the TRS members were on their feet demanding that the house pass a resolution recommending to the central government to grant separate statehood to Telangana region. They trooped into the well and encircled the speaker’s podium.
The speaker tried to take up the listed agenda and advised TRS to express their views during the debate on the motion of thanks to the governor’s address. TRS members refused to relent, forcing the speaker to adjourn the house for 10 minutes.
When the house reassembled, TRS members continued their protest. As the repeated appeals by the speaker to members to resume their seats fell on deaf ears, the minister for legislative affairs moved the resolution to suspend TRS members.
TRS had 26 members in 294-member assembly but 10 members have revolted against the party leadership.
The party had also stalled the proceedings of the assembly Wednesday on the issue and the house was adjourned without doing any business.
The issue had rocked the legislative council Wednesday and two TRS members were suspended from the house.
The TRS protest in the state legislature is part of its efforts to intensify the movement for separate state.
The party has already given an ultimatum to Congress-led UPA government at the centre that if it failed to initiate the process for formation of separate Telangana by March 6, all its members of parliament and state legislature will resign.
TRS, which had fought 2004 elections in alliance with Congress, alleged that the latter had gone back on its promise to grant separate statehood to Telangana region, which comprises 10 districts of Andhra Pradesh, including Hyderabad.