Key ruling on ‘automatic suspension’ of MLAs in AP assembly
Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Tammineni Sitaram.
VIJAYAWADA: Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Assembly, Tammineni Sitaram, gave the key ruling in the House on Monday for automatic suspension of MLAs who come up to the Speaker’s podium. He said Telugu Desam legislators surrounded him, behaved rudely, obstructed him with placards and forcibly pushed his chair. “Hence YSRC legislators came to my rescue.”
Refuting the allegations of TD MLAs of attack on them, the Speaker clarified that he did not indulge in any attack and it was the TD legislators who resorted to unruly behaviour.
Sitaram condemned the actions of the TD members in the house on Monday and expressed anguish over the attack on the chair. “It was not an attack on me, instead it was an attack on the Chair of a constitutional body,” he commented. He said members had no right to storm the Speaker’s chair.
The Speaker ruled that any member who crossed the line near the Speaker’s podium would henceforth be automatically suspended from the house. He recalled the same ruling he gave on March 15, 2022, and the ruling was invoked once again. “If any person touched the Speaker or the chair, he will be suspended for the next three to five sessions, depending on the gravity of the incident,” the Speaker ruled.
The Speaker also agreed to the ruling party’s recommendation to refer Monday’s unruly events in the house to the Assembly’s Privileges Committee. Describing the sequence of events on Monday, the speaker said TD MLA Dola Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy was interrupting the house proceedings right from the beginning of the session.
“A TD MLA had put a placard on my face before it led to the attack on YSRC MLA V.R. Elija, who was trying to protect me,” the speaker said. “The TD leaders did not show restraint and created hurdles.”
Sitaram said the right of every member was “equal” to his rights, but asserted that it was his responsibility to protect their rights during the Question Hour. He called on the members to mend their ways and cooperate with the Chair in the smooth conduct of the proceedings.
The Speaker promised that he would give every member a chance to speak.
Recalling the past incidents during the TD term where YSRC MLA R.K. Roja was suspended from the house for a year, Sitaram said that people had not forgotten such atrocities. He said that he too had the power to do the same but exercised restraint.
He referred to the attack on the speaker’s Chair as an “attack on BCs” and said he was not scared by such atrocities and would remain firm as ever even in the future.
