Uproar in the House, 13 TDP MLAs suspended

VIJAYAWADA: In what could be an unprecedented development, as many as 13 MLAs of the opposition TDP were suspended from the AP Legislative Assembly when they started sloganeering soon after Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath began his speech presenting the State Budget 2023-24 on Thursday.

The TDP members stood up and continued sloganeering alleging that there was no match between the budgetary allocations and expenditure and also why the government was borrowing and not in a position to pay wages to the employees on time.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said it was not correct to disturb the budget speech. Stating that people across the State were watching the presentation of the budget, he faulted the opposition MLAs for raising slogans intentionally. He requested Assembly Speaker Tammineni Sitaram to discipline the TDP MLAs so that the people can listen and understand the budget message more clearly.

Though the Speaker made repeated appeals and also suggested to them that they could express their views during the discussion on the budget, the TDP MLAs continued sloganeering. “You please walk out of the House  if you have no trust in the budget,” the Speaker said. Later, Legislative Affairs Minister Buggana Rajendranath moved the motion to suspend the 13 MLAs for one day and the Speaker announced their suspension.