Andhra Pradesh Assembly stalled over SC ruling on 'free zone'

Hyderabad, Mar 17 : The Supreme Court ruling on the issuance of 'free zone' led to angry exchanges between the ruling Congress and Opposition parties, adjournment of the Andhra Pradesh Assemblyh for over 15 minutes and expunction of certain remarks made by CPI floor leader G Mallesh.The trouble started as soon as the House assembled for the day when Speaker N Kirankumar Reddy announced that he was disallowing the adjournment motion notices by the TDP, CPI, CPI(M) and the BJP on the issue. Pressing for adoption of a House resolution urging the Centre to amend the Constitution to circumvent the Supreme court ruling, TDP members from Telangana region rushed towards the Speaker's podium.After repeated appeals, the Speaker adjourned the House for 15 minutes. When the House reassembled, Chief Minister K Rosaiah, intervening in view of the importance of the issue, announced that ''Hyderabad is very much part of the VI zone on matters of employment. It is not proper to discuss the sensitive issue which is before the Supreme Court. Let us evolve a consensus on the future course of action at an all-party meeting outside the House later today.'' Later, the Chief Minister offered to quit his post if he had stated that the matter was ''subjudice'' as claimed by senior TDP legislator N Janardhan Reddy and challenged him whether he was ready to do so. The House plunged into pandemonium for sometime as several Congress legislators, including ministers, were on their feet, arguing with Opposition party legislators on the issue. The Chief Minister pacified the Opposition members, saying, ''The Government will have no objection to adopt a resolution if all the parties wanted it.'' Following this, the House then took up questions listed for the day.The Speaker expunged certain objectionable references made by CPI floor leader G Mallesh on the ongoing stir for separate Telangana state, while pressing for a House resolution for protecting the interests of people of Telangana region on employment.
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