By IANS
Hyderabad : The suspension of all members of the opposition Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly was revoked just hours after they were sent out of the house Thursday.
Following a demand from all parties, Speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy revoked the suspension. All 13 TRS legislators present in the house had earlier been suspended till Feb 18 for stalling the proceedings to demand adoption of a resolution seeking separate statehood to Telangana region.
Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who spoke on the Telangana issue after the TRS members were suspended, said that if TRS members agree to cooperate in smooth functioning of the house, his government had no objection to revoking their suspension.
After the chief minister completed his speech, leaders of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) demanded that suspension be revoked so that TRS members could participate in the debate on Telangana issue.
Earlier, the speaker 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.
As soon as the house met for the day, the TRS members were on their feet demanding that it 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 revolted against the party leadership a year ago.
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 the 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.