Legislators from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema stalled the proceedings in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, which resumed its sitting on Friday after a break, reiterating their opposition to the division of the State even as a bandh was observed in the two regions.
The Lower House, expected to take up debate on the draft Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013, after a two-week break, was adjourned for the day by Speaker Nadendla Manohar, whose repeated appeals to the agitating members for order fell into deaf ears. As soon as the Assembly met, the Seemandhra MLAs were on their feet, and later gathered around the Speaker's podium and raised slogans in support of keeping the state united.
Two adjournments by Manohar did not help matters and the Assembly was adjourned for the day. Even as noisy scenes were witnessed in the Assembly, bandh was observed in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema against the House taking up debate on the Bill, which seeks to create Telangana state.
The draft legislation, sent by the President last month, is returnable by January 23. Activists of TDP, YSR Congress and the Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers (APNGOs) association, who are in the forefront of the agitation against division of the state, organised protests in the two regions.
Schools, colleges and commercial establishments remained shut at many places and the services of state-run Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corp (APSRTC) remained suspended. The shutdown evoked partial response at places such as Vijayawada where the bus services were restored by afternoon and educational institutions functioned normally.
Stepping up their campaign against division of Andhra Pradesh, Congress MPs from Seemandhra, including L Rajagopal, Sabbam Hari and G V Harsha Kumar, who had served a notice to move no-trust motion against the UPA Government during winter session of Parliament last month, began a two-day fast in Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, the political storm over Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy divesting D Sridhar Babu, who belongs to Telangana, of the Legislative Affairs portfolio refused to die down. Sridhar, who sent his resignation to Kiran on Thursday, said he has put in his papers not for any personal reasons but as a mark of protest against the alleged moves to block the formation of separate Telangana.
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