The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly was adjourned sine die on Tuesday after the Appropriation Bills were adopted amidst uproarious scenes.
Speaker K R Suresh Reddy put the Appropriation Bill for 2006-07 and the (Supplementary) Appropriation Bill for 2005-06 to vote without any discussion even as opposition members surrounded the podium and raised slogans demanding suspension of police officials responsible for the police firing on agitating fishermen at Gangavaram port Monday.
This is the first time in many years that Appropriation Bills were passed sans a debate. The Appropriation Bill for 2006-07 authorises the government to appropriate Rs 63,683 crore and the Supplementary Appropriation Bill for 2005-06 authorises supplementary expenditure of Rs 3,163 crore. The two bills authorised a total expenditure of Rs 66,846 crore.
The speaker promptly adjourned the House sine die around 11 am. Earlier, the Assembly was adjourned twice amidst furore created by the opposition parties on the same issue.
As soon as the sitting commenced at 8.30 am, the speaker disallowed adjournment motions tabled by Telugu Desam Party, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India and Bahujan Samaj Party on the Gangavaram incident.
The members of these parties were on their feet, insisting that their motion be taken up. The speaker repeatedly pleaded with them to discuss the subject during the debate on the Appropriation Bills, but they remained unrelenting on their demand.
When they rushed into the well of the House and surrounded the podium, raising slogans, the speaker adjourned the House for sometime. After the House re-assembled, noisy scenes prevailed as the agitated members waving newspaper pictures of police 'brutality' at Gangavaram raised slogans demanding the suspension of the 'guilty' police officials. The
speaker adjourned the House for the second time.
The Question Hour, Zero Hour and other listed agenda could not be taken up due to the stalling of the proceedings. When the House recommenced its sitting, the speaker lost no time in getting the Appropriation Bills adopted by the House by a voice vote, dispensing with the debate.
He also announced the names of chairmen elected to various legislature committees and read out the statistics of the budget session that commenced on February 14. The House was abruptly adjourned sine die, taking the opposition parties by surprise.
Meanwhile, Finance and Legislative Affairs Minister K Rosaiah Tuesday blamed the opposition parties for stalling the proceedings of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly throughout the Budget session.
Speaking to newsmen after the Assembly was adjourned sine die, Rosaiah said the Appropriation Bills had to be passed by the Assembly without the customary debate since the opposition parties had stalled the proceedings about an issue on which a discussion was allowed on Monday after Home Minister K Jana Reddy made a suo motu statement.
"This type of situation-passage of Appropriation Bills without debate did not arise earlier, at least for a long time. Unfortunately, the opposition parties failed to cooperate with the government, which was keen to have a debate on these important bills," he said.
However, government chief whip N Kiran Kumar Reddy pointed out the Appropriation Bills were passed without debate on an earlier occasion in 1996 when the TDP was in power.
Rosaiah blamed the main opposition TDP for wasting the precious time of the House. In all, the House lost 8 hours and 20 minutes due to the furore created by various parties.
Cooperation Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana, government whips S Udaya Bhanu and D Sridhar Babu also lambasted
the opposition parties for disrupting the entire Budget session on non-issues, thereby blocking discussion on many important issues as well as major initiatives of the government.
The House sat for a total of 144 hours during 31 working days. However, the Assembly could take up a single short discussion and debates on two issues of public importance raised under rule 304 of Assembly rules. In all, 13 bills were introduced and 12 were enacted. Ministers made suo motu statements on six issues.
In fact, the opposition parties tabled 161 adjournment motions, which were disallowed during this session. The opposition parties gave adjournment notices on some of the subjects listed in the day's business.
Discussion could not be taken up on the land allotment scam relating to IMG Bharata in three consecutive sessions as the TDP was scared that its corrupt deals would be exposed, Kiran Kumar Reddy said.