Minister for Tourism and Youth Affairs R.K. Roja on September 21 (Thursday) said the “unruly behaviour of the TDP members” in the Legislative Assembly and Council was deplorable.
At a press conference, Ms. Roja asserted that former Chief Minister N. Chandhrababu Naidu was arrested and lodged in Rajahmundry Central Prison only after the CID found “concrete evidence” of his involvement in the skill development scam.
“But the TDP leaders are desperately trying to paint it as a case of harassment and political vendetta,” she said, adding that people realised that Mr. Naidu had resorted to large-scale corruption during his tenure.
Ms. Roja further accused the TDP leaders of mobilising people to stage protests for the release of Mr. Naidu. She said the Opposition leaders resorted to “rowdyism” in the House by tearing papers and flinging them at the Speaker’s podium and surrounding his podium, ignoring repeated pleas to take their seats.
Finance Minister Buggana Rajedranath repeatedly said that the government was not averse to a discussion on the issue, but the TDP members did not pay heed, and disallowed the House to function, she alleged.
Referring to Hindupur MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna’s “moustache-twirling” act on the floor of the House, she said the member should maintain discipline, decorum and dignity of the House. “He seems to be mistaking the Floor of the House for a film shoot,” she said.
Continuing her tirade against Mr. Balakrishna, she said, though he was an MLA for two terms, he had barely attended the Assembly session or raised issues pertaining to the welfare of the people of his constituency. “The man who never raised his voice for people, is crying hoarse to save his brother-in-law,” she said.
Accusing the MLA of being indifferent to the problems of the people, she said he had never fulfilled his responsibility as the elected representative. “Talking about women in a derogatory way is his habit,” she said, adding that people had seen a glimpse of this trait on more than one occasion.
The Minister alleged that disruption of the sessions in the Assembly and Council was part of a ploy of the TDP leaders, who actually did not want any discussion on the skill development scam as “it will establish, without any doubt, the role of Mr. Naidu in the case.”
