By IANS,
Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh’s main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Wednesday decided to move a no-confidence motion against assembly Speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy.
N. Janardhan Reddy, TDP deputy leader in the assembly, submitted the notice in this regard to the legislature secretary. The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) will support the motion, the first to be moved against the speaker in the state’s history.
The decision to table the no-confidence motion came a day after TDP legislator Karanam Balaramakrishna Murthy was suspended from the assembly for six months for his “derogatory remark” against the speaker.
The legislator had made the remark at a public meeting in Ongole in April this year. He was suspended after the assembly adopted a resolution based on the recommendation of the Privileges Committee.
Protesting his suspension, Murthy staged an indefinite hunger strike near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the assembly premises. TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu later persuaded him to call off his protest. Naidu said the speaker was showing discrimination against the opposition.
TDP, which has 48 members in the 294-member assembly, needs the support of at least 50 members to move the no-confidence motion. TRS, which has seven members and is also unhappy with the speaker for the delay in disqualification of 10 rebel legislators, is backing the move.
The 10-day monsoon session of the assembly began Monday. It is likely to be the last session before the elections slated in March next year.