Opposition walkout over debate on graft

HYDERABAD: Members of the opposition parties _ TDP, TRS, MIM, CPI, CPM and LSP _ staged a walkout from the Assembly as soon as it met for the evening session on Tuesday alleging that the government did not appear to be sincere in facilitating a debate on corruption and Supreme Court’s notices to six ministers and eight bureaucrats.For the last seven days the opposition parties had been demanding a debate on the issue and since there was no change in the attitude of the government, they created a ruckus on Tuesday also. After a heated discussion the government said it was ready for a discussion and said the date and the form could be decided by the Business Advisory Council.The speaker, accordingly, adjourned the House after the zero hour and called the business advisory council meeting where the members could not come to a decision.The meeting was adjourned to evening where it was decided that the debate be held on March 28.But deputy speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, without announcing the BAC’s decision, went ahead with the agenda of the evening session.This irked opposition, and led to walkout.When the House met in the morning, all the opposition parties forced the government to agree to a discussion on the controversial GOs. TDP, TRS and MIM MLAs rushed to the speaker’s podium and created a scene, forcing the speaker to adjourn the House for 15 minutes.When the House reassembled at 10.10 am, opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu and MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi was not allowed to speak on the issue.Intervening, CM N Kiran Kumar Reddy said the all GOs were available on the Internet and there was no need to place them before the House. He said that it would be inappropriate for the House to discuss the issue which was sub-judice. Countering the chief minister’s claim, Naidu cited the example of 2G scam, which was discussed in Parliament despite the case pending before the SC and being investigated by agencies like CAG.