HYDERABAD: The first day of the Telangana Legislative Assembly on Tuesday ended in six minutes. Soon after, the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting chaired by Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy decided to hold the session for two days, on September 12 and 13.
The two developments left the Opposition parties shocked. Opposition leaders who attended the BAC meeting demanded that the Assembly sit for two or three weeks but the state government refused to do so. The MIM, seen as a friendly party of the TRS, too objected.
The BAC was restricted to the TRS, AIMIM and the Congress and the BJP was left out. The Speaker ignored the convention of inviting all parties to the BAC meeting. This fuelled speculation that the TRS has blocked the BJP for political reasons.
A few members were seen cracking jokes in Assembly lobbies, mentioning the ‘number six factor’, said to be the lucky number of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. They pointed out the House had commenced on September 6 and had adjourned after six minutes.
After the House convened at 11.30 am, the Speaker moved the condolence motions on the demise of former MLAs Mallu Swarajyam (Thungathurthy) and Paripati Janardhan Reddy (Kamalapur) and adjourned the House. He did away with the tradition of allow at least one member from each party to speak.
Legislative affairs minister Vemlula Prashanth Reddy said that working hours were being increased to cover all the issues. He said that in view of the Ganesh immersion on September 9 and Telangana National Integration Day celebrations from September 16 to 18, the government was unable to hold a longer session now.
The government would consider holding another session in December for 14 days, he said.
The Congress wanted the House to take up debate on the Centre’s stand towards Telangana while AIMIM wanted debates on Minorities and issues concerning Hyderabad.
The government must to hold the Assembly session for at least two or three weeks since there are several issues concerning the people which need to be
debated, said Congress Legislature Party leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka.
The government must increase the working days as we need to debate on lot of issues that affect the people including that of minorities and Hyderabad, said AIMIM Legislature Party leader Akbaruddin Owaisi.
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