Picture for representational purposes only.
Opposition lawmakers were suspended from both houses of Telangana legislature today for stalling the proceedings over the issue of farmers' suicides.
Assembly Speaker Madhusudhan Chary suspended 32 lawmakers belonging to various opposition parties while legislative council chairman Swamy Goud suspended six members.
Terming the suspension undemocratic, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has called for state-wide shutdown tomorrow.
The speaker suspended members of main opposition Congress, the TDP, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left parties for the rest of the monsoon session while council members were suspended for a day.
As soon as both the houses met for the day, the opposition lawmakers were on their feet demanding a debate on waiver of farm loans. The government turned down the demand on the ground that the issue was discussed threadbare last week.
In assembly, the lawmakers surrounded the speaker's podium and raised slogans.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said the government made a clear-cut statement on the issue of farmers' suicides. He told the house that the government also listed out the steps being taken to check the suicides and said it was unfortunate that despite detailed debate on the issue and the government's reply, the opposition was stalling the proceedings.
Amid pandemonium, Legislative Affairs Minister Harish Rao named the opposition members and requested the speaker to suspend them.
The suspended members include 13 of Congress, seven of TDP, four of BJP and two of the Left parties. A member of YSR Congress Party and an independent were also suspended.
Similar scenes were witnessed in the council, where five member of Congress and one of BJP were suspended for a day.
Leader of Opposition in the assembly K. Jana Reddy said the suspensions were undemocratic. He said the government failed to give an assurance to the farmers.
BJP leader K. Laxman said it was a dark day in the assembly's history. TDP's Telangana state president L. Ramna called for a shutdown tomorrow to protest the suspensions.