Noisy scenes in Assembly, Speaker abruptly adjourns House

Hyderabad, Aug 21: Andhra Pradesh Speaker K R Suresh Reddy today adjourned the House abruptly for a 'tea break' declaring the two remaining questions on the agenda were deemed to have been answered as the main Opposition TDP wanted an elaborate answer from the Government on a question raised by it, despite the government volunteering to take up the issue in the form of a debate.

Opposition parties TDP, TRS, CPI(M), CPI and BJP, which stalled the proceedings of the House for an hour seeking debate on their adjournment motions, finally allowed the House to take up the Question Hour when the TDP once again stalled the proceedings on land allocation to a repatriate from Pakisthan ''worth Rs 3,000 crore.'' The Opposition onslaught spearheaded by Mr P Keshav (TDP) led to heated arguments between Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao and the Leader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu.

Mr Keshav alleged while several options were available to the government, including payment of cash compensation for the land acquired from one Malani, a repatriate from Pakistan, the government chose to allot valuable land to him.

Expressing doubt if the person was alive, he has charged that realtors acquired the land in his name 'with the blessings of the government.' He also alleged the government bestowed the powers of allotment on IAS Officer Rosaiah just three months before his retirement and rushed through the process.

Reacting sharply, Mr Rao said the the deal was executed during the TDP period and reminded the opposition it was the TDP which gave ticket during the recent local body elections to Mr Rosaiah's wife.

The present government was keen on protecting government property and obtained a stay from the Andhra Pradesh High Court on the land allocation. Though the issue was sub-judice as the matter still before the court, the government was prepared to take up the issue through a short debate.

Intervening, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy also said the government had no objection to take up the issue in the listed discussion on land acquisition on the outskirts of the city.

Despite the assurances of the government and the Speaker to take up the debate either tomorrow or at the earliest, Mr Chandrababu Naidu said he did not believe the debate would come up during the present session and wanted further clarification.

As TDP members were making noisy protests when Primary Education Minister N Rajya Lakshmi was answering the next question, the Speaker announced the two questions remaining on the agenda were deemed to have been answered and adjourned the House for tea break.

UNI