New Delhi: Three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs – T Raja Singh, M Raghunandan Rao and Etela Rajender – were suspended from the Telangana Legislative Assembly on the first day of the state budget session on Monday.
The motion to suspend the three MLAs was moved by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party minister, Talasani Srinivas Yadav.
The three BJP MLAs wanted to stage a protest against the budget and the ruling TRS party over their decision to commence the session without the customary governor’s address.
State Finance Minister T Harish Rao began the presentation of the Budget 2022-23 soon after the House met, even as the BJP floor leader T Raja Singh and others tried to draw the attention of Speaker Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy.
As Singh persisted with his attempt, Yadav moved a motion for the suspension and soon after the Speaker announced the suspension of the three MLAs.
Singh, who was in the well of the House, initially did not pay any heed to the Speaker's instructions to leave the House and so he had to be bodily lifted and taken out by the marshals.
Later, in a statement, Singh alleged that their rights as MLAs have been taken away due to the suspension. He also added that their suspension during the entire budget session is a conspiracy of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.
Meanwhile, Congress MLAs in the Telangana Assembly staged a walkout during the Budget session. A party release said that the Congress MLAs boycotted the budget presentation and came out of the House in protest against the Speaker who allegedly flouted the rules and didn’t give the mike to raise even a point of order.
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka alleged that the Assembly was being run in an undemocratic manner.