TRS Legislators suspended in AP, suspension revoked in Assembly

Hyderabad, Feb 14 (UNI) Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) members present in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Council, demanding a House resolution on Telangana, were today suspended till February 18, but their suspension from the State Assembly was later revoked at the behest of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and floor leaders of various parties.

After a brief adjournment in the Assembly following pandemonium on the issue, Speaker K R Suresh Reddy named 13 TRS members present for continuing to stall the proceedings by staging a protest in the well of the House against the ruling Congress for ''cheating'' the people on the Statehood issue and pressing for moving a resolution to press the demand with the Centre.

Later, their suspension was revoked by the Speaker after the Chief Minister and floor leaders of other parties felt that the TRS should also participate in the discussion on the sensitive issue.

In the Legislative Council, three TRS MLCs, including floor leader Dilip Kumar, were suspended after a brief adjournment as Council Chairman A Chakrapani named them for stalling the proceedings.

Intervening in the State Assembly after suspension of the TRS members, the Chief Minister likened the vexed Telangana issue to the Kashmir issue and said the high command of the Congress, leading the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre, would decide on the ''delicate'' issue at an ''appropriate time''.

''Let us work for the development of the State till then, similar to Indo-Pakistan cooperation in various fields, despite differences over the vexed Kashmir issue,'' he added.

(Eds: Here, pick up suitably from related series) UNI SM-BR VA GD AKJ VC1807