It appears there is no other agenda for the Telugu Desam Party hereafter, except the arrest of their president and former Andhra chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu to approach the people seeking support.
Apparently, the TDP leaders have realised that the YSR Congress party government headed by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is planning to keep Naidu in jail as long as possible so as to demoralise the TDP leaders and cadre.
On Thursday, all the TDP members who attended the first day of the monsoon session of the assembly got suspended from the house for day and three of them for the entire session, after they tried to stall the proceedings of the house seeking immediate release of Naidu from jail.
The TDP members, who decided not to attend the business advisory committee (BAC) meeting at all, vowed to take up the arrest of Naidu as the single-point agenda of the party in the coming days and stall discussion on any other issues.
So, when the session began, the TDP members created a ruckus. Rebel YSRC members Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy, Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy and Vundavalli Sridevi also joined them in the protest.
They stormed the podium, tore the papers and threw them at the speaker, demanding that the House discuss the illegal arrest of Naidu. The Speaker Tammineni Sitaram did not agree and said the house would discuss the issue, if they give sufficient notice under some other relevant rule.
As the TDP members did not heed to request even after the adjournment of the House for some time, the Speaker suspended 15 TDP members, besides rebel MLA Sridevi from the House for a day and two TDP members – Anagani Satya Prasad and Payyavula Kesav, besides rebel TDP member Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy for the rest of the monsoon session.
The morning saw heated arguments between the TDP members and the YSRCP members. Senior actor and TDP legislator Nandamuri Balakrishna, who rarely attends the session, led the members into the House and threatened to teach a lesson to the YSRCP members.
He thumped his thigh and twirled his moustache to challenge YSRC minister Ambati Rambabu. This led to the arguments between the two. Finally, the government got all of them suspended from the House.